


Bangtan Unsolved: the Spoopy Spirits of Franklin Castle

by bangtanstanst



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series), 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Alternate Universe - Ghost Hunters, Attempt at Humor, Fluff, Gen, Ghost Hunters, Paranormal Investigators, horror I guess?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-05
Updated: 2018-11-02
Packaged: 2019-07-25 16:36:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 21,831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16201433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bangtanstanst/pseuds/bangtanstanst
Summary: “Built in the 1880s for wealthy German immigrant, Hannes Tiedemann, the ‘castle’ was the site of four Tiedemann children deaths, as well as multiple murders in the secret passageways around the ballroom. In the 1990s, a skeleton was found in a closet. Today, visitors hear babies crying in the walls and spot a woman in black staring out of the tower window.”And tonight, Bangtan investigates.





	1. 11:49 PM

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to this Halloween month special! As you can probably tell, it’s based on the concept of Buzzfeed Unsolved supernatural. If you haven’t watched it, I really recommend you do! In any case, I hope you’ll like this series :) Don’t hesitate to send me your thoughts or feedback, I’d love to hear what you think of it (especially because this is kind of new territory for me), what you might want to see happen in this castle, or maybe even where you want them to go next ;) I hope you have a great day/night wherever you are!

“… so, as a result, Franklin Castle has become known as one of the most haunted places in the country. And, fortunately for us, the owners of this small castle have allowed us to go inside for a night to help us prove that ghosts,” Hoseok pauses, glancing over at you with a pointed look, “are real,” he finishes, and you just look into the camera, theatrically rolling your eyes. Jungkook glances up at you from his viewfinder and snickers silently, holding the camera steady as you pointedly stand up.

“Well, that all sounds ridiculously far-fetched,” you decide, dusting off your butt as best as you can. Your fingers are starting to lose their feeling, the winter air too icy for even your thick coat or gloves to fight against.

Hoseok just huffs in reply, all too used to your criticism.

You smile at him, holding out your hand. “Let’s go inside before this woman in black catches us, eh?”

He mumbles something you can’t quite catch, though he takes your hand and allows you to hoist him up. Just as you turn to face the small crew of five, all here to help you document your night at the Franklin Castle, Seokjin yells ‘cut!’, clapping his hands for good measure. “Alright, let’s pack up and go in, we don’t have all night,” he says, turning to the crew, who are already packing up.

“We literally do,” you shoot back with a laugh. “That’s why we’re here.”

“You ever hear of a figure of speech?” Seokjin returns, an amused smile breaking out onto his face, though he turns away when something else catches his attention before you can say anything in reply.

Rather than an expected chuckle, you hear Hoseok sigh beside you, and when you turn back to him, he’s looking up at the house with the corners of his lips turned down. You have to admit, it does look a little imposing, especially in the dark of night. The tall building is clearly in a state of decay, dark bricks crumbling. Some of the windows are smashed to pieces, allowing the wind to freely play inside, and you shiver at the thought of having to walk through the door, enter this cold and musty ‘castle’. You can’t even look inside to see what’s waiting for you – all you see is darkness.

Still, though, you can’t help but equate it to the Luigi mansion in Mario Kart – a little creepy, and full of fake-ass ghosts.

Another sigh from the man beside you pulls you out of your thoughts and you look at him, noticing the script in his hand is shaking a little. You lightly pat his shoulder, sending him a small smile you hope will reassure him, even if it’s just slightly. “You’ll be fine, Hobi,” you tell him, leaning against the door with your shoulder. You hear Taehyung and Namjoon’s laughter somewhere in the background as the latter helps the younger man pack up the lights and put some of it back in the van. “It’s just a few hours.”

He huffs, breath coming out in a white cloud. “Easy for you to say,” he shoots back. “You don’t even believe in this stuff.”

You smile up at him, tilting your head. “And yet you keep picking haunted places for us to film at.”

He just sends you a look, choosing to remain silent rather than protest. “ _Anyways_ ,” he says pointedly, leaning against the door, mirroring your stance as he tilts his head. “You went on a family trip last week, right?” You don’t have to nod, you know he already knows since you had to plan your shoots around the damn ‘vacation’, but you do it anyway. “How was it?” he asks, glancing aside at the crew, watching as Jimin and Jungkook fold their tripods, chattering back and forth.

You groan, leaning your head against the wooden surface of the heavy door. “Don’t get me started. I think I explained my job to my grandma like five times and she still didn’t understand on the ride home.”

“That can’t be all you guys talk about,” he says, clearly fishing for something ‘positive’.

You laugh and shake your head. “No, they also love to talk about my love life,” you reply with a huff, looking over his shoulder into the dark night. “Even if it’s absolutely non-existent.”

He grins at you. “Do I detect a hint of bitterness?”

You snort, shaking your head. “What do you mean? I absolutely love talking to air all night and waiting for a whisper that’ll never come,” you tease, a small smile tugging at your lips. “Wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

Hoseok puts a hand to his chest, shaking his head at you. “I came out to have a good time and I’m honestly feeling so attacked right now.”

You snort once more and flick his forehead, stepping back as Yoongi approaches the two of you to check the small microphones attached to your coats. “That’s what I’m here for, isn’t it?” you retort.

“Not really,” Hoseok says with a shrug, looking at you over Yoongi’s shoulder. “Just so I have someone to sacrifice if we accidentally anger a demon again.”

You chuckle and shake your head. “For someone who claims he’s afraid of ghosts, you sure joke a lot about them.”

“Coping mechanism,” Yoongi remarks with a small smirk, adjusting the position of your microphone a little so your hair won’t cover it during filming. “I mean, right before he starts screaming his lungs out when he hears the tiniest of ‘ _whispers’_ ,” he adds, mockingly emphasizing the last word.

With a laugh, you turn to Hoseok, who just huffs and crosses his arms, though he allows enough room for Yoongi to fumble with his mic as he did with yours. “I’m not the only one that gets scared here,” he protests weakly, knowing he can’t simply deny all the on-camera instances of him actually screaming his lungs out. “Seokjin can barely keep his mouth shut!”

At the sound of his name, Seokjin looks up from his conversation with Namjoon and Taehyung, raising his eyebrows at the two of you. “What was that?”

“Nothing!” Hoseok returns with an innocent smile, turning back once the older man shrugs and picks his conversation back up. “I mean, remember when that rat scurried over his foot and he basically jumped through the ceiling?”

You can’t hold back your laughter, and you know Yoongi’s laughing too, even if he tries to hide it by focusing on Hoseok’s mic.

None of you will ever forget that night. You’d been stalking around the hallways of some abandoned diner for a few hours, once more coming up empty when, just before you walked out of the grimy kitchen, Seokjin let out a scream you’ll never be able to erase from your mind. He’d even gone as far as to jump on Namjoon’s back, upon which the papers both men had been holding fell to the ground, scattering all over the floor. You’d painstakingly had to pick everything up before you could leave, all the while Seokjin just sat on one of the filthy counters just so he wouldn’t have to touch the floor. You’d left the restaurant about an hour past schedule.

Regardless, it had made for one good episode.

You open your mouth to say something, but you notice the others are heading your way and you swallow your words.

“I’m sure you’ve all seen the schedule, but I’ll repeat it just to be sure,” Seokjin says, taking a sheet of paper from Namjoon’s hands. You and Hoseok huddle around him, Namjoon, and Taehyung, reading along as Jimin and Jungkook return from the van. Yoongi takes the script from Hoseok’s hands, stuffing it in Seokjin’s backpack.

“So we’ll start with the first floor – parlour, dining room, ballroom,” Seokjin begins, pointing to the rooms in question on the map Namjoon has brought along, illuminated by the flashlight Taehyung is pointing at it. “Then we’ll move to the library and one of the bedrooms on the third floor. We’ll go down to the basement around 3, where we’ll do the lockdown.”

Everyone hums at that, slowly nodding as you process tonight’s plans.

“We should be out by 4, but the owners say it’s fine if we run a little late. Besides, our flight back is not until eight PM tomorrow, so don’t feel like you have to hold back on the bickering,” he adds with a smile, at which you hold your hand up for a high five, and Hoseok enthusiastically claps his hand against yours. “Alright, I think that’s it. Everyone ready to go?”

There’s a chorus of ‘yes’s ringing through the silent night air. After Jungkook and Jimin quickly fasten a harness with a Go-Pro around your and Hoseok’s waists – something you always find makes you look slightly ridiculous – you and Hoseok walk back to your spots at the door while you’re shivering from the cold.

“You’re not nervous, are you?” Hoseok teases, raising an eyebrow when your teeth start to clatter.

You keep your jaw still, shivers still running down your back. “Just cold, you idiot,” you say, checking your camera if it’s on and on the right settings, as Hoseok does the same.

“Whatever you say,” he says with a smirk, clearly glad he can tease _you_ for a bit now. All you do is roll your eyes at him, laughing a little.

“Alright, have a good shoot, everyone,” calls Seokjin, and you turn your heads briefly to the crew by your side. Jimin and Jungkook are pointing their cameras at the two of you, with Taehyung in the middle, carrying some of the lights needed to make your footage a little better. Yoongi is right behind them, his headphones on, listening intently to the audio coming through your mics, tweaking it here and there. Meanwhile, Namjoon and Seokjin are standing side by side, papers in hand, ready to fact-check or steer the two of you when it’s needed.

You turn back to Hoseok, who gives you a smile and nod, though you can see he’s already shaking again – and you know for a fact that it’s not just from the cold. Putting your thumbs up, you try to console him in the second you have before the whole circus begins.

“In 3, 2…”


	2. 12 AM

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Your night starts off a little rocky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! The second part of the series is here, I hope you like it :)

The door groans heavily as it swings open, showing you a dark and empty hallway. The smell of dust hits your nose as soon as you step inside and you scrunch it, trying to suppress your upcoming sneeze. It’s cold inside and you feel yourself shiver, but it does feel slightly better than the freezing temperatures you had to endure outside.

Turning around, you look at Hoseok, who’s still lingering in the doorway, hesitant. The crew is right behind him, waiting for him to step over the threshold and enter. “Come on, don’t be so scared. They just need to oil the hinges and it’ll be good as new,” you joke, beckoning him inside with a cock of your head.

“Right,” he mumbles, still looking a little unsure of all of this, perhaps even considering a career change. He breathes in, then out, and finally follows you inside.

Once his foot is over the threshold and the crew pours inside, he’s looking around with wide eyes, slowly stepping around the space, floor creaking beneath his feet as he cranes his neck to look at the ceiling.

“So is this where they’ve heard babies crying?” you ask him, looking around as well, though there’s not much to look at, really. Except for the stairs at the end of the hallway, most of your surroundings consist of bare walls and dusty floors, dark doorways lining the walls. Strangely enough, every door is missing from its frame, making the entryways look like black holes, ready to suck you into a space as cold, dark, and musty as this one.

Hoseok slowly shakes his head at your question, seeming to flutter back to earth as he turns to you. “No, that’s upstairs, but thanks for the reminder.”

You grin. “You’re very welcome,” you return, looking up at the ceiling. “Honestly, though, I’m more scared by the cracks up there, but okay,” you say, pointing upwards to some disturbingly large cracks in the white plaster of the ceiling.

“They do tours in here, though,” Hoseok replies, coming to stand right beside you, staring up at the cracks. “So I’d expect they’ve reinforced it.”

You smirk at him. “Or maybe the ghosts will bury us tonight.”

“Aw, come on!” He pulls a face, scowling as he steps away from you. “Don’t say that,” he whines, shaking his head.

“What, you’re afraid that ghosts that can’t even lift, like, a plate can just bring this whole ceiling down on us?” you shoot back with a small, amused smile, eyebrows raised.

“Ghosts can do a lot more than that, if they’re angry enough,” Hoseok defends, turning to you. In the light Taehyung provides you, you can see a flicker of fear in his eyes.

You laugh at his remark, shaking your head. “Wow, I’m so scared,” you say in a monotone voice, glancing at him. “They make up the craziest stuff, don’t they?”

“It’s true!” he protests, sounding much more confident than you’d expect anyone to be while making claims about _ghosts_. “You’ll see.”

“Hmm,” you hum sarcastically, nodding slowly at him. “I’m sure.”

He just looks at you with an annoyed expression. “Let’s just go to the parlour, shall we?”

“Only if they have tea there,” you remark as you follow him to the parlour. He just laughs sarcastically in reaction, continuing on his way. “What? We’re trying _very_ hard to make these ghosts famous here, the least they could do is be a little hospitable.”

“Ghosts don’t even drink tea, why would they have some to give us?” Hoseok says, stepping through the doorway, with you just a few steps behind.

“You don’t know that,” you protest as you enter, looking around the room, breathing in more dust. You can see it used to be something very fancy, with an intricately detailed wallpaper and an expensive-looking, but heavily weathered Persian carpet on the floor. There are some paintings on the walls, creepy people from centuries ago intently staring back at you, though you’re not sure if these are the original paintings from back in the day. The chairs are in relatively good shape, considering the state of the rest of this ‘castle’, though there’s a thick layer of dust on each one of them. There are no curtains covering the windows, and strips of moonlight illuminate the creaky floor, some shining onto the deteriorating fireplace, where the bare remains of ashes rest.

It all looks… old, not taken care of very well. You briefly wonder how many spiders there are pattering around here, but you quickly force the thought out of your mind. Bugs terrify you more than the non-existent ghosts you’ve somehow ended up hunting for a living. “Maybe they have, like, ghost tea or something.”

“That’s not a thing,” Hoseok insists, his back turned to you as he walks around the room.

“Again, how do you know?” you repeat, cocking your head to the side, a look of slightly exaggerated curiosity on your face.

“Because ghosts don’t need to eat or drink,” he replies, turning around to look at you. “Either way, you’re not getting tea tonight.”

“Maybe we should ask the ghosts before we assume things,” you protest.

“Let’s tell the history of this room first, yeah?” Hoseok says. From your peripheral vision, you see Jimin and Jungkook shuffle around a little, trying to find the best angles at which to capture the two of you in your surroundings.

“Alright,” you say through a sigh, finding a relatively stable-looking chair and dusting it off heavily before carefully sitting down. “Different kind of tea, but I’m here for it.”

“Ha-ha, you’re so funny,” Hoseok says in a monotone voice, carefully sitting down across from you. He dusts the armrests before putting his elbows on them, his oversized coat rustling as he moves.

“In any case,” he begins, sitting back a little, looking around as he speaks, “parlours were used as formal reception rooms. It was really a social status thing back then, so people really went all-out on the decoration, as you can see,” he explains, gesturing around the room at the patterns and accessories you spotted on your way in. “Since communication technology has developed, these rooms have kind of gone out of fashion, though, so that’s why we don’t really have these anymore.”

You nod and chuckle a little. “Good thing that happened. I wouldn’t be able to afford all that extra furniture, anyway,” you say, making him smile a little. “And what a bitch this must be to clean.”

“You do know they had servants for that, right?” Hoseok tells you with an amused smile. “So you’d probably not be doing it yourself, if you’d been rich enough.”

“Ah, the wonders of no worker protections,” you muse sarcastically, leaning back and looking around a bit more. Had you ever ended up in a castle like this, you feel like you’d probably have been a servant.

Hoseok just snorts, shaking his head. “Anyways, on the less historic side, people have heard voices in here, like there’s a group of people just talking to each other around them,” he continues. “There are also some accounts of shadow people, like literally coming at someone and then just disappearing right in front of them.”

“Wow, _shadows_? In a place like this? I am shooketh,” you say dryly. “Can’t wait to listen to some voices, though,” you add with a wink, sitting up a little. “Oh, ghosts!” you call into the room, voice raised. “Someone there?” you inquire, letting a short silence fall before you continue, “Can you give us a sign? Whisper in our ears, flick our hair, anything? Hm?”

You wait in silence. Jimin and Jungkook pan their cameras around the room while Hoseok is looking at Yoongi with wide and expectant eyes, hoping for the man to give off any signal of weird audio feedback.

Yoongi has reacted to on-set audio only once before, a few months ago. You’d been walking around a graveyard that fateful night when, suddenly, he froze in his tracks and very silently started to freak out.

Turns out it had been a dog messing around.

While Yoongi himself still vehemently denies that he thought it was actual spirits, Hoseok’s been getting his hopes up ever since, waiting for him to look up with the same shocked face as that night, but to no avail.

A minute or five passes in complete silence. “I don’t think they want to talk to us, Hobi,” you whisper.

He sends you a look, an eyebrow raised. “Maybe that’s because you keep asking for tea they don’t even have.”

“Oh, they’re still on that?” you whisper back, turning your head back to talk to nothing once more. “Ghosts, don’t worry if you can’t get us any tea! I can get my own, really. I’d still love to talk to you, or see you maybe, just this time.”

Hoseok hits your shoulder at your last few words, not even having to tell you to ‘be respectful’ for you to understand what he means. You just laugh a little, shrugging semi-apologetically, though the both of you remain silent, waiting to hear the voices Hoseok is so desperate for.

The silence in the room is almost deafening, with only the soft, creaking footsteps of your crew breaking it every few seconds. Hoseok, meanwhile, is sitting next to you with wide eyes, seemingly less bored by this whole ordeal than you are. You can’t really blame him, honestly – you’d be a little tense too if you thought someone could jump up behind you and start murmuring in your ear at any given moment.

When another five minutes pass, you sigh and stretch, leaning back to look at Hoseok, who glances at Yoongi, though the man in question doesn’t give anything away. “I think that’s it for the parlour?” you inquire.

With a sigh, Hoseok’s shoulders slump just enough for you to notice, and he nods slowly. “I guess we should –“

A sudden music note rings through the air.

Everyone jumps, and the note is followed by an immediate yell from Seokjin’s lips. The sounds echo through the space for a few seconds and you all stay frozen as silence takes back over, looking at each other with wide eyes, waiting for another sound.

“What the hell was that?” Jimin whispers. You’re too taken aback to come up with a snarky remark, heart pounding.

“Sounded like a piano,” Yoongi mutters, one headphone off his ear as he speaks, looking up at you through his eyelashes.

“There’s a music room right next to us,” Hoseok says through a shaky breath, gripping the chair’s armrests so tightly his knuckles turn white.

You’re the first to really move, blood starting to rush through you again, though you can still feel your heart pounding. “Let’s go see how many rats it took to get that done, then, hm?” you say with a small smile, spinning on your heels and walking out into the hallway without waiting for Hoseok to reply. Jungkook rushes to follow you, keeping his camera on you as you step out of the parlour and look for the entrance to the music room. You spot it right away – just as doorless as the entry to the parlour – and walk towards it. “The first one to the right?” you call, hearing Hoseok’s footsteps follow you, along with the others.

“I think so, yeah,” he replies, walking out of the parlour just as you step into the music room. The floorboards creak underneath your boots – though you should probably be used to that by now – and you look around.

It looks pretty similar to the parlour. In fact, it looks almost the same – intricate wallpaper, an old fireplace, frayed Persian carpet on the floor, and classic chairs lining one of the walls. There are some pictures on the scattered around the room and, just like the paintings, they stare right back at you when you look at them.

With a scowl, you turn away, approaching the old piano right in the middle of the room. It’s lost its shine and the wood is heavily damaged in some places – you can even see a part of the insides through a hole in its body. The ivory keys are all covered in dust, which lies eerily undisturbed. For a second, you start to think it was all just a weird coincidence. Maybe it was a snare snapping, or the piano adjusting to the cold weather – but then you spot it.

A stone, resting on one of the keys, heavy enough to press it down.

“Not a ghost,” you conclude, picking up the stone and turning on your heels to show it to Hoseok. “Just this house falling apart.”

He takes the stone from you, studying it with a frown before holding it up for Jimin to film, turning to you with his frown deeper still. “What do you mean?”

“It obviously came from the ceiling,” you say, pointing to the cracked and chipped ceiling right above the piano. “Houses tend to do that when they’re rotting.”

Hoseok narrows his eyes, walking closer to the piano and standing right underneath the damaged ceiling as if that’ll tell him more. “But there’s no stone over here, just plaster,” he slowly says, head still tilted upwards. “I told you to be respectful, dammit! They really are gonna bury us in here, aren’t they?” he says, turning to look at you with wide eyes.

“It could literally be a thousand other things, Hobi,” you calmly tell him, crossing your arms. “There are more explanations than just ‘spoopy ghosts’.”

“This is what I mean by showing respect!” Hoseok protests, throwing his hands in the air. “At the very least, you shouldn’t be using memes from last century.”

“Just trying to pander to my audience,” you say with a smile, gesturing to the room around you. “Maybe that’ll get them to come out for once.”

Despite your lighthearted remarks, you’re still shivering a little, skin tingling, though you don’t know if that’s from the cold, or from the shock you just had. You’ve had your fair shares of jump scares – racoons, ducks, pigeons, even a harmless fly, once – but you still get a little shaky when they happen.

“Alright, so are we done here?” you say, leaning against the doorframe. Hoseok is staying inside, back to staring up at the ceiling. “Didn’t see any shadow people, didn’t hear any voices, nothing.”

“But we heard the piano,” Hoseok shoots back. “That’s got to count for something.”

“It’s just a piece of ceiling, Hobi, what do you wanna hear from me? That a ghost got a pickaxe and just slowly hacked away until a stone fell _right_ on a piano key? Is that really the evidence you’re looking for here?”

“Pretty much,” he replies, tearing his gaze away from the ceiling. “And you’re not gonna be able to convince me otherwise,” he insists, walking back towards you. “So let’s move on before the discussion gets too long.”

He brushes past you and you chuckle, following him to the room next to the music room, with the crew right behind you. “You know me so well.”

When you enter, Hoseok is already looking around, walking around the large table that fills up most of the space. There are quite a few chairs positioned around it, enough room for an extended family to enjoy a meal together, as far as you can ‘enjoy’ a meal in this abandoned place.

Unlike back in the other rooms, the wallpaper’s design is completely gone, ripped off the walls to the point where the most you can see is a few lines here and there, in similar colours to the patterns you saw before. A tree outside is blocking the windows, making sure there’s very little moonlight coming through. All the more reason to be glad for the fact that Taehyung is here to provide the light you need to actually _see_ , and that you’re carrying flashlights with you to add to that.

“It’s all rotting very well in here,” you remark after a short silence, looking up at Hoseok, who is currently checking every doorway. Someone apparently really liked removing doors around here because, once more, the doorframes are void of them.

“Well, considering it’s also very _old_ , I’m not surprised,” Hoseok replies with an amused look on his face.

“So what did they do here back in the day, for those millennials who don’t know what the hell a dining room is?” you ask him, turning and turning so you can look at every wall as Hoseok replies.

“They used to dine here,” he replies dryly, an audible smirk in his words.

You turn to him, chuckling. “That’s all you’ve got?”

“’Course not,” he replies with a smile. “So I already told you they had a lot of servants in this house, right?” You nod quickly. “Well, the servants also did the cooking around here, and they’d come right through here to serve it,” he elaborates, pointing at a dark entrance leading to a room you can’t see the interior of. “That doorway actually leads to the ‘breakfast room’, which is attached to the head servant’s room and the kitchen so they could just knock on their door whenever they wanted the servant to make something for them.”

“Why do you need a breakfast room _and_ a dining room?”

Hoseok chuckles. “That’s all you got from that? No ‘oh, it’s so sad the head servant couldn’t even rest properly because some rich person might want a midnight snack?’”

“Well, I mean, that too, of course,” you say with a wave. “But, like, how rich were these people? I don’t even have a dining room, let alone a separate room just to have breakfast in.”

He shrugs. “Rich enough to build a castle with tons of rooms they didn’t need and fill them with servants and expensive furniture.”

You snort, shaking your head. “Wow, I feel so enriched by that answer,” you say in a monotone voice, though you’re not able to hold back a smile, and you turn your head to inspect the table’s dark, wooden surface. There are some plates that are clearly from this century and look a little out of place, all much less decayed and much shinier than their environment. “So what do people experience in here, anyway?” you ask. “Floating candles? Shadow people? _Whispers_?” you continue, dramatically gasping as you say the latter part.

He just glares at you, raising an eyebrow. “ _Actually_ ,” he begins, turning to face you fully. “They hear things like clinking plates and glasses and stuff, and some people have even seen floating knives around here or out in the kitchen, and –”

You interrupt him with a snort, bursting out in loud laughter, leaning on your knees for support as your shoulders keep shaking. “Floating knives?! Are you kidding me?” you manage through your giggles. You don’t seem to be able to stop, the picture of _floating knives_ simply too unrealistic for you to even take seriously. Especially because Hoseok seems so confident about it all. “Do you realise how ridiculous that sounds?”

“I wasn’t done,” he says, though you can see a small smile tugging at his lips. “People also say they smell different foods in here. There’s reports of that happening in the kitchen, too.”

Your chest still shakes a little, though you’re getting your laughter under control now, even though you feel like bursting out in another set of giggles at the notion of ghosts somehow being able to cook, and humans being able to smell it. “Okay, I’ll just ignore the fact that you told me ghosts didn’t have food or drinks because they didn’t need them just a few minutes ago and focus on the fact that that sounds like an incredible cooking show,” you say, wiping the corners of your eyes and putting your cold hands against the warm skin of your cheeks. “Like, imagine Masterchef, but with ghosts. Everything’s floating, Gordon Ramsey is panicking because he doesn’t know who to yell at…”

“Respect, Y/N, respect.”

“I’m sure they’re fine with it,” you retort, leaning against the table, though it feels very wobbly and you stand back up right away. “Right, ghosts?” you say, voice a little bit louder. “Give us a sign if you’re fine with it,” you add, crossing your arms, eyes floating around the room.

Hoseok is right beside you, letting out a shaky breath as silence falls once again, Jimin and Jungkook taking some shots of the room. You hear the occasional rustling of leaves outside as the wind brushes through the tree at the window, and there’s the sound of a car driving past once in a blue moon. Nothing else, really. No weird piano sounds, no clinking of plates and glasses, and, oh so surprisingly, you notice there are no floating knives anywhere around you. You admit, you would’ve loved to see that, just so you can pull some scissors out of nowhere and cut the cord the knives are most definitely hanging onto.

But, ten minutes pass, and nothing happens. So you decide to have some fun with it.

You scrunch your nose, sniffing a little. Hoseok looks at you in confusion but does the same, curiously sniffing along with you. “You smell that?” you ask him, words that only deepen Hoseok’s frown and he sniffs some more, eager to get what you’re talking about. “I can’t quite…” you trail off, sniffing some more, turning your head this way and that to add some suspense to your answer. You see the rest of the crew do the same, and you almost burst out in laughter again at the remarkable picture of seven ghost hunters snorting dust as if their life depends on it.

Nevertheless, your poker face remains, and you keep sniffing. “You know, I think it smells like…” You pause to sniff some more.

“Smells like what?” Hoseok asks, more confused and excited than you’ve seen him in a while, waiting impatiently for your answer.

You lean a little closer to him, still sniffing like a bloodhound on a trail. A last, long inhale and you look up at him with a neutral look, void of emotion. “Smells like bullshit.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!! So what do you think is gonna happen next? Are they gonna see some ghosts, or just keep 'hearing' stuff that might or might not be paranormal? What are you hoping to see? Or do you just want to let me know what you thought of this chapter? Don't hesitate to leave it in a comment below ;) Thanks again for reading, I hope you have a great day/night wherever you are!


	3. 1 AM

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The investigation is in full swing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another week, another part! This might be my favourite out of the three I've uploaded so far :) I hope you like it!

“Well, that was uneventful,” you mutter, glancing over your shoulder as you exit the dining room, Hoseok trailing right behind you. After your little joke, you stayed in there a while longer, doing some more ‘contacting’ even though, as always, it didn’t give you anything. “Is that all you’ve got?”

He sends you a grin. “Not even close.”

Narrowing your eyes at him, you come to a stop in the middle of the hallway to allow everyone to catch up to you. “You look way too enthusiastic for someone who has once again made a fool out of himself.”

“Please,” Hoseok scoffs. “The piano thing was enough in and of itself.”

Rather than going into the whole discussion once more, you roll your eyes, turning on your heels. “So where to next, Scooby?”

He ignores the nickname, pointing to a doorway right behind you. “Ballroom,” he says, already brushing past you on his way there. “I’ve seen pictures of it – you’re gonna love this one,” he says over his shoulder, some loose pieces of concrete on the floor crunching underneath his feet like gravel as he steps closer to the dark entryway.

“Oh, I’m sure,” you say sarcastically, following him, briefly glancing down at your GoPro to check if it’s still doing okay. “Just like the parlour blew my mind, hm?” you say, still looking down at your camera as you check some of the settings, which is why you subsequently bump into Hoseok, who has apparently come to a stop in the doorway. With a yelp, you steady yourself, stepping back. “You gonna go inside, or what?”

Hoseok remains frozen and you hear him sniff.

You chuckle a little. “Are you still on that? We’re not even in the dining room area!”

“No, Y/N, it’s not food I smell,” he shoots back, voice a bit hoarse. You swear you hear a slight tremble, which makes you frown a little.

“Then what is it? More bullshit?”

He doesn’t react the way he normally does, like roll his eyes or poke you – this time, he subtly shakes his head, sniffing once more. “Seriously, you don’t smell it?”

You throw your hands in the air, gesturing at his back and turning towards Jimin’s camera with an annoyed look on your face. “Not if you stay in the doorway, no,” you tell him.

He finally turns, stepping away from the entry rather than actually going inside. You frown at him once more. “You’re really not going in there?”

“You first.”

Even pursing your lips doesn’t seem to help you suppress your amused smile, though you walk into the ballroom without another word, taking in your surroundings.

It’s a large room, and it’s almost completely empty. The temperature is slightly better than in the other rooms you’ve been in, but it’s still too cold to take off your coat. The floor is covered in a layer of filth, but underneath it, you can see it used to be quite beautiful. There’s a lot of windows, almost as if they didn’t have enough bricks and just decided to put glass everywhere instead. Most of them are relatively intact somehow, looking out over the dark and empty garden, trees littering the area. You figure it conceals the ballroom quite well, shielding any dancers from the judging onlookers that happen to be walking past.

You breathe in, expecting the strange smell that somehow reminds you of wet dust, if that even exists, though your face contorts when an even stronger, even heavier smell hits you.

“So?” Hoseok asks from behind you, and you spin around to face him. “Smoke, right?”

You almost don’t want to admit it, though you feel yourself nod slowly. “Yeah,” you mutter, turning back around to scan the room for anyone who could’ve made a fire in here.

As you expected, though, the room is empty.

 “Fucking knew it,” Hoseok mumbles behind you. Even though his voice is soft, the words still echo through the room, bouncing against the walls and back to you.

“Doesn’t mean it’s ghosts,” you say, still looking around the space, eyes gliding over the moonlit walls and floors. Finally, you spot a fireplace across the room and walk towards it, the smell of smoke growing stronger with every step you take.

“Doesn’t mean it’s not, though,” Hoseok shoots back as you stop at the fireplace and crouch down in front of it, tilting your head with a frown. “Don’t get too close, Y/N,” he warns as you hear the footsteps of the rest of the crew patter around the room, too. “People have seen it suddenly being lit on fire.”

You let out a laugh, turning to look over your shoulder. “Ha! Are you serious? There’s not even wood in here!” you ask in amusement, shuffling a little closer and sticking out your hand to hold it over the ashes still left in there, not breaking eye contact with Hoseok, whose eyes widen, lips parting.

“Y/N…” he begins, though he doesn’t say anything else, knowing nothing he’ll say will talk you out of this.

You lean closer so your arm is now hovering above the ashes. “Like a real fire?” you tease. Just as Hoseok opens his mouth to say something, your head snaps back to the fireplace because, to your surprise and absolute confusion, you feel your hand start to actually _warm up_. Swallowing your next snarky remark, you just shuffle a little closer, pulling off your glove and holding your hand close to the ashes. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” you mumble, feeling actual warmth radiating from the grey powder.

“What?”

You let out a startled yell at the sound of Hoseok’s voice right beside your ear, not even having noticed him approach you. In your shock, you almost hit him in the face with your shoulder, but he skillfully dodges the blow, laughter echoing through the ballroom, his smile reaching from ear to ear.

You quickly turn around and stand up, putting your glove back on. “Promise me you won’t freak out,” you say, a small smile tugging your lips upwards.

His laughter has died down by now and his face has gone serious again. “This is only gonna freak me out more, you know,” he returns, the way his eyes widen only confirming those words.

You chuckle. “Point taken,” you reply, stepping aside to allow him full view of the fireplace. “The ashes are still warm,” you simply say, but it’s enough to make him gasp and crouch down like you did just before, swiftly pulling off his glove and feeling it for himself, completely forgetting the warnings he gave you himself just minutes prior.

“What the fuck?!” he exclaims, jumping back up and turning to face you. He looks elated and terrified at the same time – a strange combination. “What the fuck?!” he just repeats.

You laugh a little, nodding at him. “Yeah, it’s warm,” you say. “I’m sure ghosts made a little campfire in their ballroom to make sure their feet wouldn’t get cold.”

“Well, how else would you explain this?” he shoots back, gesturing to the fireplace.

With a groan, you put your gloved hands to your face, shaking your head. “Oh, I don’t know, a thousand different ways?” you insist, hands dropping back to your sides.

Your heart skips a beat when you spot exactly what you need right there at your feet, resting on the floor as proof that logic _might_ still apply here. “Like squatters!” you say, quickly bending down to swipe the metallic can of Red Bull off the floor, holding it up to Hoseok’s face, then turning to show it to the camera. “It’s simple, really – they were just chilling here, having a blast in this castle they had all to themselves when they heard our van pull up and they bounced out one of the windows,” you continue.

Hoseok crosses his arms, sending you a doubtful look. “Yeah, sounds plausible,” he says with a scoff. “Absolutely not far-fetched.”

You just smile at him, carefully putting the can back on the floor. “Well, now you know how I feel when you tell me those stories you find on the internet,” you say innocently, dusting off your gloves when you straighten back up.

With a laugh, he just shrugs. “Speaking of, you wanna hear some?” he says, taking a few steps back to move towards the middle of the ballroom.

There’s a small smile on your face as you cross your arms. “Lay it on me, Hobi.”

“Alright, so,” he begins, coming to a stop in the middle of the ballroom, and Jungkook has to take a few steps aside so he’s out of frame. “It’s a ballroom, so people danced in here, obviously. They held a lot of parties, got drunk, threw up a little, committed a little adultery…”

You raise an eyebrow. “Sounds like the tea I’d like to hear.”

He grins, pointing at you. “Thought so,” he says. “So I did some more research, just for you.”

Putting a hand to your chest, you gasp dramatically, gaping at him. “For me? I feel so honoured.”

He smiles. “You should be,” he says, arm dropping back to his side. “Unfortunately, though, I couldn’t find anything beyond the fact that they did it.”

You scowl and shake your head. “If only they’d had TMZ.”

“Right? That’s what I thought!” Hoseok says with an enthusiastic nod. From the corner of your eye, you can see Namjoon hold back a laugh, shaking his head and pinching the bridge of his nose. The researcher probably had to sit with Hoseok for a while before they gave up on _that_ part of the investigation. “In any case, having a room like this was just another way for them to gloat about how much money they had.”

You look around the space, eyes gliding over the vaulted ceilings and spotting some semi-intact chandeliers, nodding at Hoseok’s words. “Another reason why I’m glad clubs are a thing now. Don’t have to worry about that stuff.”

Hoseok snickers at that, though he doesn’t comment. You both know he’s tried to get you out of the house to various clubs plenty of times, and only actually succeeded to convince you to tag along about ten per cent of the time.

Yes, you keep track.

“Today, like I said, people have seen the fireplace just suddenly light on fire, and it’s rumoured the spirits like it when you play music in here,” Hoseok continues, pulling out his phone from his back pocket.

“What, they come out and dance with you or something?” you ask, genuinely confused as to what he meant by ‘the spirits like it’. “Or do you just wanna please them?”

He hums and nods at your last sentence, looking down at the screen of his phone and scrolling. “It might put them in a better mood, maybe they’ll be more likely to give us a sign, or at least let us go unharmed,” he elaborates in a tone so seriously you can’t help but laugh a little. You cover your mouth to muffle it, but he still hears you and he sends you a glare. “Just trying to help us out here.”

Pursing your lips to hold back another laugh, you nod. “Right, of course. Do what you need to do.”

He glances up at you from underneath his eyelashes at your sarcastic tone, though doesn’t say anything else, just continuing to scroll until he finds what he needs. With another touch on the screen, the simple sound of a piano fills the room, playing a melody you recognise all too well.

“Really? Für Elise?” you say, eyebrows raised.

Hoseok just smiles. “Yep,” he simply replies. “Now shush.” He puts his finger to your lips as the song continues. You shut your mouth, staying still as you listen to the melody echo through the ballroom, arms still crossed. Hoseok is looking around as if he’s expecting some ghosts to suddenly appear and start dancing to the song, his eyes carefully scanning every inch of the room. The rest of the crew is looking too, though a little less intently than Hoseok, while Yoongi seems to be rushing to adjust some of the audio settings to account for the music and the echoes that it brings along.

A minute or two later, the song is slowly drawing to an end, and an idea is starting to form in your mind. As the last piano notes echo through the ballroom, you silently hold out your hand to Hoseok, a small smile on your face. He frowns at you, tilting his head in a silent question. “I think I know a song that’ll really get them on our good side,” you say, just as the last notes of the song fade out, ringing through the ballroom.

Hesitating for just a second, he slowly places his phone in your hand, watching as you unlock it with the code you once saw him use. Silence falls as you scroll through his music for the song you’re looking for, tilting the screen towards your face so Hoseok can’t see what you’re doing. You scroll down and down to the letter ‘s’ and stop when you finally find the song, triumphantly looking up at Hoseok, thumb hovering over the title. And then you press it.

Hoseok’s face lights up in recognition at just the first few chords. You both start to jump right away, singing along to the song you both know and love – _Shut Up and Dance_. His phone’s speakers aren’t the best and they make the song sound a little tinny, but neither of you seems to care, moving along to the beat and practically shouting the lyrics as the chorus sets in. The rest of the crew can’t help but laugh at you, Jimin and Jungkook doing their best but having a little difficulty capturing the two of you as you keep jumping around.

You have to admit, ballrooms are pretty good for what they’re made for – dancing. You don’t bump into things or are restricted by low ceilings or walls that are too close together, like the living room or bathroom of any given apartment or hotel room. You can let the music take complete control of you, move your limbs without a thought in the world. It’s a weird moment of euphoria, dancing and singing in the middle of the night in the ballroom of a supposedly haunted castle, but you’ll take what you can ge-

You suddenly feel your foot slip away from underneath you, a certain treacherous can of Red Bull right underneath your toes. Your other foot is too slow to catch up and you’re falling before you know it, dropping to the floor with a ‘thump’, the fall forcing a groan from your lungs.

When you look up, the music has stopped and Hoseok is standing over you, a worried frown on his face as you groan once more, feeling the cold from the floor seeping through your coat. “You okay?” Hoseok asks, crouching down as you push yourself into a sitting position. You see the others have all stepped forward, the same looks on their faces, but too reluctant to step into frame and break up the shoot.

You chuckle, rubbing the back of your head, though it doesn’t feel like it actually hit the floor. Still, Hoseok quickly leans forward to check it out, fingers parting your hair to check if the skin is bleeding. “Yeah, I’m fine,” you reply. “See, this is why you shouldn’t litter!”

With a laugh, Hoseok stands back up, holding out his hand to help you up, which you gladly take. “Yeah, you’re fine,” he concludes, letting go of your hand as you dust off your behind as best as you can, face contorting in disgust at the filth you notice your gloves are picking up from your coat and pants. Hoseok, meanwhile, bends down and picks up the can. “And we’re throwing this away,” he says, wiggling it at you a little before shoving it in his pocket.

With another chuckle, you nod. “Sounds like a plan.” A last swipe at your coat and you decide to just give up and walk around with dust and filth on your clothes for the rest of the night. “Now let’s move on before I fall again, shall we?”

He laughs a little. “You sure you don’t wanna stay for another song?” he teases.

Raising an eyebrow at him, you chuckle along. “Yes, I’m sure,” you reply.

Just as you turn to walk out, Seokjin’s voice interrupts, saying, “Shall we set up a camera here, see if the fireplace lights back up by itself?” he proposes, at which Hoseok nods enthusiastically.

“I’ll go down to the van to grab it,” Jimin says from beside you and he turns to you. “Can you hold the camera for a second?” he asks, holding the piece of equipment out to you.

You nod quickly. “Sure,” you reply, taking the heavy camera out of his hands. Jimin rushes out of the room right away. With the shoot paused for a second, chatter picks up, breaking the eerie silence that had been hanging in the ballroom just before.

“Y/N, want me to clean you up a bit?” Seokjin asks you, walking towards you with a clothing roller in his hands. You don’t ask where he got the thing from, nodding eagerly instead and turning your back to him, Jimin’s camera still tight in your hands. “Wow, that floor really is filthy,” he mumbles from behind you, rolling the lint remover down your coat, carefully taking away the dust and dirt that has managed to cling onto the fabric.

“I don’t think I want to know,” you say with a chuckle, already hearing Jimin has returned with a camera and a tripod to set up in the ballroom.

Seokjin keeps cleaning your clothes diligently, taking off a seemingly never-ending layer of filth. The longer he goes on, the more you start to wonder if they should _maybe_ mop the floor once in a while. Then again, you’re not the owner, of course, and you’ll admit it does add to the atmosphere. In the background, it seems Jimin has already returned, and you hear Hoseok discussing with him and Jungkook where they should set up the camera.

“I think that’s it,” Seokjin finally tells you.

With a sigh, you turn around, sending him a thankful smile. “Could you do my gloves, too?”

He chuckles a little, but nods and rolls the sticky surface over the fabric of your gloves a few times, removing most of the dirt that’s on there. “Thanks!” you tell him once he’s done.

He smiles at you and nods once more. “Just try not to fall again,” he teases, at which you huff.

“I can’t promise anything,” you reply, making him chuckle once more. As he turns around, Jimin walks back towards you, taking the camera from your arms. Your muscles are already aching a little, and you wonder briefly how the hell he carries the thing around all night, though you push that out of your mind as Seokjin announces the restart of the shoot, counting down from three and pointing at you and Hoseok as he mouths ‘one’.

“Right, so the second floor, you said?” you ask Hoseok, who nods in confirmation. “Can’t wait for all the spirits we’re definitely gonna encounter in there.”

“Me neither,” Hoseok says, though much less sarcastically than your own words. “There’s some really weird stuff that’s happened up there, you’ll see,” he assures you as you walk out of the ballroom, heading back into the dark hallway and towards the wooden stairs.

You follow him and come to a stop at the bottom, standing beside him as you both warily inspect the structure in front of you.

“If we can even get up there, that is,” you remark, testing the first step with your foot. It groans underneath even the small amount of weight you put on it. You scowl, looking over your shoulder at Hoseok, who looks even more reluctant to make his way up. “You scared?”

“No,” he replies weakly. You test further, putting your entire weight on the step, which creaks even more loudly when you do so.

Hoseok whimpers very subtly. His reaction, while it is the same one you’re internally having at the moment, only spurs you on, and you lean forward, putting your other foot on the second step, which creaks loudly. “They do tours in here, right? I’d expect they’ve reinforced it,” you tease him with his own words, raising an eyebrow at his scowl.

He just hums softly, face contorting a little, and he looks up into the dark hallway the stairs lead you to. There’s a soft breeze blowing in your face from upstairs and a shiver runs down your spine.

“You coming, Hobi?” you say, looking over your shoulder.

“Give me a minute, will you?” he returns. You feel a smile growing when he looks down at the first step and pulls a face, but gingerly puts his foot forward, slowly putting more of his weight on it. His hand is gripping the handrail tightly as if he’s hoping the small strip of wood will save him when the stairs collapse underneath his feet.

“It’s probably fine, they’d have condemned it if it wasn’t,” you try to reassure him, patting his shoulder. “I mean, unless the ghosts have other plans, of course,” you add with a wink, at which he just glares at you.

“Thanks, I feel so safe now,” he deadpans.

You roll your eyes, but continue on your way, not stopping even when the steps feel particularly rickety underneath your feet. The crew waits at the bottom while you ascend the stairs, likely not wanting to disturb the audio. “So, tell me, what happens in here? People get thrown off the stairs or something?” you ask.

Hoseok looks up from intently watching his feet, seemingly a little distracted now. “Oh, this is where they’ve heard the babies crying through the walls. I’ve listened to some recordings and it’s super creepy,” he replies, catching up to you soon enough. The two of you stop at the top of the stairs, waiting for the rest to catch up before continuing your conversation – fortunately, they’re a little quicker than either of you.

“How do you know it’s not doctored?” you inquire, stepping further into the hallway. It’s completely dark and you turn on your flashlight to illuminate your path, careful not to trip over any of the loose floorboards. The doors are all still in their rightful place, though many of them hang half out of their frames and some other ones keep moving with the wind that passes through. Dark, windy, and creaky – the perfect spot to imagine things.

“You can never really know for sure, but it seemed pretty legit,” Hoseok says with a shrug, letting his flashlight glide over the faintly yellow walls and the wooden floor. “But that’s why we’re here, right? To check?”

You suppress a laugh, flashlight lingering on a floorboard that seems to have curled up in its entirety like a gross toenail, and you wonder if it actually did that on its own, or had some help. _Human_ help, that is. “I guess so.” There’s a moment of silence. “Why not downstairs, though?” you ask, turning to him quickly, accidentally shining your flashlight in his face and he yelps, putting a hand in front of his eyes. “Sorry,” you say sheepishly, pointing the flashlight downwards.

Hoseok blinks a few times, waiting for his vision to return before he replies. “I don’t know, Y/N. Ghosts are weird like that.”

With a snort, you nod. “If we’ve learned anything these past few years, it’s that,” you mutter, glancing up at the ceiling. It’s a little less cracked than downstairs, though still almost worryingly so. “Anything else?”

“Mostly reports of shadows following you, and some people –“

“Shadows do tend to follow you, though,” you interrupt, looking back at Hoseok. “That’s kind of the point of shadows.”

“Not when there’s no light around to cast any shadows,” he argues, tilting his head with a ‘gotcha’ smile.

You smirk right back. “But then it’s all shadows, right?”

His smile falls and he huffs at you, waving his hand in a silent ‘never mind’ before walking further into the hallway, flashlight searching the space around him. He looks into several of the doors before moving on, probably inspecting them for any ghosts before turning back around. “I almost don’t wanna say what else they’ve caught in here.”

You raise your eyebrows at that, curiosity peaking. “Oh?” you say, cocking your head to the side. “You’re getting me curious.”

“You’re only gonna laugh at me,” he notes, crossing his arms, flashlight loose in his hands. It illuminates a spot right beside him on the floor.

Sending him a reassuring smile, you shake your head. “I’ll try not to.”

“I’m just the messenger here, okay? The only reason why I’m saying this is because it turned up in the research and some people think it’s a thing.” He narrows his eyes at you as you nod, biting the inside of your lower lip to suppress a smile. “People have caught…” He sighs, shakes his head, looking up at the ceiling. “They’ve caught orbs on camera.”

You have to purse your lips together at the mention of ‘orbs’, looking away in an attempt to suppress the laughter you feel bubbling in your throat. “I’m –“ you begin, sighing and shaking your head, an involuntary snort following. “I had no idea you were an orb guy, Hobi,” you say, looking back at him. “I can’t say I’m not disappointed.”

“I said I’m just the messenger!” he protests as you walk past him, glancing into one of the rooms, though it’s incredibly dark and you can’t see much beyond the small area of light from your flashlight. “I’m not an orb guy.”

You glance over your shoulder, taking a step back from the room. “You know,” you begin, turning around and pointing the flashlight at his chest, “that’s exactly what an orb guy would say.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!! Let me know what you thought of it or what you want to see happen in the next parts in the comments :) Have a great day/night wherever you are!


	4. 2 AM

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You’ve heard ghosts can be wild. But, apparently, you just keep meeting the hungry ones.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Another week, another part. I hope you enjoy this one!!

“Where are you taking us next, orb guy?” you ask Hoseok a little while after you’ve done the obligatory ten minutes of silence, including continuous attempts to communicate with the, ahem, ‘ghosts’ that might be roaming this floor, once again ending up with nothing. You suspect you’ll get that a couple more times tonight.

He throws a glare over his shoulder, eyes narrowed at you as he walks back to the stairs. “You know what? I’m not gonna tell you,” he teases. You can hear the smile through his words, even though he clearly tries to hide it by turning away from you.

“Spooky,” you reply, the corners of your lips turned up into a small smile. “You want me to speculate on this, then?”

With wide eyes, Hobi turns to you and opens his mouth, “Oh, no, pl-“

“’Cause I was imagining, like, this hellish attic with about a hundred dark corners, you know?” you interrupt, catching up to him as you walk back towards the stairs. “With those creepy dolls that look like Chucky staring at you, their eyes just following you around the room. Spiders crawling on the ceiling, and you can actually hear the _tap tap tap_ of their feet against the plaster…” you pause, looking up at him. He looks a little nervous, lips turned downwards into a scowl, but he’s pushing on, bravely so. You lean a little closer, voice lowering to accommodate the atmosphere you want to create. “And then they just fall onto your neck when you least expect it, slowly crawling underneath your collar, and then you feel those hairy little legs tickling your –“

“Okay, okay, okay, that’s enough, now!” Hoseok finally interrupts you, holding his hand to your mouth to physically stop you from talking. You can’t help but grin underneath his fingers, shrugging.

“Dash enerainmen f’ yu,” you mumble. He takes his hand away with a confused frown. “That’s entertainment for you,” you repeat with a smile, reaching up to pat the top of his head.

“I don’t know what you do in your spare time, but listening to someone talk about spiders isn’t usually considered _fun_ ,” he replies, stopping at the stairs, though he’s turned towards the ones that lead you to upwards, rather than back down. They look a little better, somehow, though that doesn’t exactly reassure you.

“It’s fun to watch you listen to it, though,” you tell him with a grin, at which he sends you a sarcastic smile and takes a breath, starting the ascent. Your eyebrows shoot up at his sudden burst of apparent bravery.

“I’m sure you’re excited about the next part,” he says as you walk up the stairs together, the rest of the crew right behind you. The steps creak and groan, having a tough job carrying the weight of seven people and one hell of a lot of equipment.

You chuckle a little. “If only you’ll tell me.”

He turns to you with a grin on his face. “Oh, right, I forgot I was keeping this one a secret,” he replies.

“You decided that literally two minutes ago, how could you have forgotten?” you ask in disbelief as he reaches the top of the stairs, already shining his flashlight around as he waits for you to catch up.

“Maybe your little spider story had something to do with it,” he remarks, looking at you with one eyebrow raised as you reach the top as well. You open your mouth to return a snarky remark just as you turn to look at your surroundings, though you quickly swallow that reply, jaw dropping as your flashlight glides over the walls. Where you’d expected a hallway just like the one you left behind – dark, windy, and creaky – you’re faced with something entirely else.

Books.

The ‘hallway’ is much more spacious than the one downstairs, looking more like a living room with some connecting rooms. Books are all around you, lining every wall, only occasionally making room for a doorway or two. You walk forward, ignoring the crew’s footsteps behind you and inspecting the bookcases as you pass them. It actually _smells_ like books in here too, in the best way possible. You wonder how no one has stolen any of the novels that surround you, or how they haven’t weathered like the rest of the place, or how the floor hasn’t collapsed underneath their weight. It’s almost magical, how this whole damn castle seems as rotten and as empty as it can be, how it’s old and deserted, yet this part… now _this_ is something you can work with.

“Told ya,” Hoseok says behind you, arms crossed as he watches you walk around the space, wide-eyed and practically drooling.

You turn to him, flashlight moving along with you and illuminating the dark shirt he’s wearing. “What the fuck is this?” you ask softly, eyes looking over the bookcase that’s right beside you.

“The Tiedemanns didn’t really have room for all the books they owned, so they turned this corridor into a library,” Hoseok replies. “It’s the only part the current owners could renovate before they ran out of funds.”

“My type of people,” you say with a grin, though that’s quickly replaced with a look of wonder as you keep looking around the space. You click your tongue, letting your flashlight glide over some specific titles, the golden letters on their backs almost glowing in the yellow light. “Can’t believe the damn Tiedemanns, though. Rich enough to have a breakfast room, yet so little respect for their own books.”

“It does look pretty nice,” Hoseok admits.

With a gasp, you spin around to face him once more. “ _Pretty nice_? How dare you insult these books like this? I thought I raised you better than that, Hoseok.” From the corner of your eye, you see Namjoon smiling and silently applauding in agreement.

“Sorry, of course, this is the most wonderful place in all of history,” Hoseok replies, bowing his head as he shakes it. “Please accept my humblest apologies.”

With a small smile tugging at your lips, you wave his words away. “I don’t appreciate this type of mockery, mister. This is no laughing matter.”

Chuckling a little, he looks back up from his feet. “When did we turn into medieval snobs?” he comments, making you chuckle too.

“It’s late, I think we have an excuse,” you reply with a smile, turning back around to face the library slash hallway. “So how have ghosts ruined this spot? More orbs?” you ask absentmindedly, wide eyes still looking around. It seems there are no open windows in here and that the temperature feels like it’s a few degrees above freezing. In fact, this floor looks a little more like the haunted homes you’ve been to, rather than the rotten hospitals and asylums you’ve visited. The contrast with the rooms downstairs is almost eerie – _almost_.

“No orbs,” Hoseok replies. “Some people have heard whispers,” he continues, walking around the space with a light tread. “Spirits knock the books off their shelves. Oh, and they say that, if you put a candle in the middle of the room, it’ll just light up out of nowhere.”

You narrow your eyes in suspicion. “Really, now? Sounds a little like a certain ballroom fireplace downstairs, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah, well, maybe the ghosts just like setting things on fire in here,” he shoots back, walking towards the middle of the hallway and crouching down, planting his butt on the wooden planks and settling there, rummaging through his backpack.

“Is that why this place burned down once?” you ask, stopping right in front of him and debating for a second whether or not you should sit down on the dusty floor, too. It takes you a moment before you figure it can’t be as bad as the ballroom floor you fell on, so you just accept your fate and plop down across from him.

Hoseok pulls a fresh candle out of his bag and points it at you. “People do think so, yes,” he confirms, setting it in between the two of you. “They say that some visitors might’ve been a little too… rambunctious one night and the spirits just got sick and tired of everyone’s shit.”

“Wow, look at you, using the word ‘rambunctious’ and everything,” you joke as you watch him fumble with two more candles. “Our Hobi’s growing up.”

He glances up from arranging the candles in a neat row for a moment before continuing with what he’s doing. “Funny.”

“Anyways,” you begin, leaning back, hands planting on the floor to support your weight. “Why are we sitting here instead of reading all these books?”

“Take a guess,” he says with an amused smile, leaning back as well.

You look down at the candles, getting an idea as to what he’s planning on doing, though you’re kind of hoping you’re wrong. “Please don’t tell me we’re gonna _wait_ for these candles to light up in front of our eyes right now.”

“That’s exactly what we’re gonna do,” he replies instead, making you groan a little.

“Of course we are,” you mutter, folding your hands in your lap and looking around the library rather than stare at the boring white candles in front of you. Jungkook and Jimin are a little off to the side to film you, with the others spread around the room, pressing themselves against bookshelves and into corners so they’re not in the shot. “Wanna talk to the ghosts?” you propose.

Even though Hoseok looks a little reluctant, it seems the late hours have given him at least a smidgen of courage, because he nods, sits up a little straighter and looks around. “Uhm… hi there, whoever can hear me,” he starts, eyes darting around the room like he’s trying to cover every corner, just in case there’s a ghost looking at him somewhere. “Can you give us a sign, if you’re here?”

Silence. There’s just the creaking floors that fill the room, not even the rustling trees you heard downstairs penetrating the closed windows.

Hoseok, however, seems determined now. “This seems like a nice place for you to stay – do you like it here?” he asks. “We’ve put out some candles to make it easier for you, as we’ve heard it’s a good way for you to communicate. So, can you give us a sign if you like it here, or if you don’t, even?”

You look up at him, amused. “That request’s a little contradictory, don’t you think?” you comment, one eyebrow raised. “I mean, if they give us a sign now, does that mean they like it here or they don’t?”

He shrugs, still looking around. “At least it gives them more reason to do something,” he mutters in reply, glancing at you briefly before continuing to talk to the air. “I’m Hoseok, by the way, and that’s Y/N,” he says, pointing at you as he says your name. “It’s very nice to meet you.” You almost snort at that. “Could you light one of these candles for us, please?”

A silence falls as you wait, with everyone inspecting the room, though some people – and by some, you mean Namjoon specifically – are just looking at the books, arms crossed tightly just so they won’t ‘accidentally’ pull one out and start reading. You can relate.

When a few minutes pass in complete silence and the candles don’t do anything, you huff. “Come on, ghosts!” you encourage, though it’s rather angrily. “Wanna prove you’re here? Light those candles!”

“Y/N,” Hoseok hisses, shaking his head in an attempt to tell you to tone it down, but you just grin at him and shrug.

“Good cop strategy didn’t work,” you reply. “Which is where I come in.” You turn back to the ‘ghosts’, continuing, “We’ll stay here all night if we have to,” you say as you look around, though you see nothing but books. “I’m gonna annoy the shit out of you, you hear me? I’m gonna read all your books and put them back in the wrong spots,” you announce, jumping up and walking towards one of the bookcases. “How do you like that, huh?” You pull out one of the books nearest to you, waving it around in the air. It’s heavy and you feel dust clinging to your fingers already. “Shall I put the Ms with the Bs? The Ps with the Zs, perhaps?” you threaten, stepping away from the book’s rightful place and hovering it next to another bookcase. “Though I’ve heard you can rearrange it, so it shouldn’t be a problem, right?”

Silence.

You wait as the seconds tick by, growing more and more impatient. “Come on, then. Give us a sign if you want this book back where it belo-“

There’s a sudden thud.

Hoseok yells out in shock and jumps up, accidentally knocking over the candles in his enthusiasm. He rushes over to one of the bookcases, crouching down right in front of it and inspecting the book that’s fallen to the ground. Jimin is filming it up close, taking a shot of the spot where it came from, as well.

“You fucking did it!” Hoseok exclaims, jumping back up to look at you. “You fucking got them to do something!”

Slowly, you walk back towards the bookcase, setting the book in your hands back in its rightful place – next to another empty spot, one that used to be occupied by the book that’s on the ground right now.

“You know, I think I know what mystical thing was behind this,” you say, looking down at the book at your feet. You have to admit, it’s one hell of a coincidence. But, you’ll also be the first to point out that coincidences just happen.

You hum and nod, picking the book up from the floor. “Yeah, this definitely proves a theory I’ve been reading up on lately. I didn’t think I’d ever believe in it, honestly, but…” You pause and sigh, holding the book up to Hoseok, who has his eyes narrowed at you in suspicion. “I mean, it’s really the only explanation for it.”

“What theory?” he warily inquires, eyes furrowed together into a frown.

You smile. “Gravity.”

Hoseok groans and shakes his head. “Seriously?” he says with a disappointed sigh. “Do you have to ruin everything?”

“What, with actual _science_?” you shoot back with a chuckle, shaking your head. “Come on, Hobi, don’t be so gullible. I clearly pulled that book to the edge when I took the other one out and it just took a while for it to fall off the shelf. It’s simple.”

He crosses his arms, shaking his head. “I can’t believe you’re ignoring evidence that’s _right_ in front of you!”

 “What can I say?” you say with a shrug, putting the second book back into the bookcase. “I’d honestly love to see a ghost, Hobi, but until one actually jumps up right in front of me and tickles my nose or something, I’m gonna go with the logical explanations for the things we see,” you say, turning back to him. “Shall we pack up and continue?”

He looks over his shoulder at the candles, then back to the bookshelves, as if he’s weighing his options whether to stay or not. You can almost hear the cogs in his head turning, brain judging how terrified he is exactly and how big the chance is of collecting more evidence in here.

With a start, he jumps out of his thoughts when Seokjin steps forward, but he turns to him and listens as calmly as he can. “We’re gonna have to change batteries just about now, anyway,” Seokjin informs you. “We can stay in here for a while to do that, see if anything else happens and then move on.”

After a moment, Hoseok nods. “Yeah, okay,” he says, walking back over to the candles and plopping down in front of them, setting them back upright.

You follow him, though you stay on your feet, taking your GoPro out of its harness and removing the battery, taking a fresh one out of Hoseok’s backpack to replace it. “So, ghosts, you gonna do something now that all the cameras are off?” you ask out of nowhere, the chatter around you softening to a murmur as the others catch on to what you’re doing. You’re wearing an amused smile as you fumble with the batteries, stuffing the old one in your pocket so it won’t get mixed up with the new ones. “Well?”

“Maybe they just don’t like you,” Jungkook remarks with a grin, looking up from the heavy camera in his lap.

You’re close enough to smack the back of his head, so you do, though you’re chuckling. “I’m likeable,” you protest, putting the new battery into your camera and turning it on.

“Ha!” Hoseok exclaims, laughing a little for good measure. “Tell that to the ghosts you keep insulting.”

You shrug. “You need to be provocative to provoke them, right?” you say, handing Seokjin your flashlight when he taps your shoulder and holds out his hand for it. “I’m sure they still like me,” you say, watching as he twists open the light and puts in brand new batteries, handing the small cylinder back to you.

“Who says they ever did?” Hoseok shoots back with a grin, at which you hear a few chuckles travel around the room.

With a roll of your eyes, you take your mic pack out of your back pocket, careful not to pull on the cable that’s attached to the microphone on your shirt, and grab some more batteries. “I feel very outnumbered today.”

“I mean, if you so firmly don’t believe in ghosts, you don’t need to worry about likeability,” Yoongi says from somewhere behind you and you turn, pointing at him while he slips a new battery into his audio mixer.

“Touché,” you admit, smirking as you turn back, switching the batteries in your mic pack. “I’ll be even meaner from now on, then.”

“Come on!” Hoseok protests loudly, dropping his own mic pack into his lap. “Do you _want_ us to get hurt or something?”

“Just trying to get us proof, Hobi,” you reassure him with a smile, dropping the old batteries in the front pocket of his backpack, doing the same with the other batteries you stashed in your pocket. “It’s kind of my job.”

Hoseok is about to shoot something back, but Namjoon quickly jumps in. “Your phones still okay? Anyone need any power banks?” he inquires, looking up from rummaging through his backpack. The crew quickly checks their phones for battery power, though only Jimin is the one to request a power bank.

“Anyways, are we on schedule?” you ask Seokjin, turning to look over your shoulder at the man as he pulls out a piece of paper from his back pocket and quickly scans it.

“It’s half past one, right?” he asks, and you nod after quickly checking the time. “We should be fine for now,” he concludes with a firm nod, stuffing the paper back into his pocket.

“If you really cared about getting proof, you wouldn’t be worrying about time restraints,” Hoseok says to you, taking an extra GoPro out of his pocket and holding it up to Seokjin. “Is it okay if we leave the candles here and film them, see if anything happens?”

“Won’t the place set on fire if any spirits do happen to light them?” Taehyung wonders aloud, stuffing some old batteries into the fanny pack he insists on bringing, rather than the backpack everyone else carries.

You hum. “We can’t risk the books.”

Seokjin chuckles a little. “We’ll be on this floor to keep an eye on them, so I’m sure it’s safe,” he says with a laugh. “I say we take the camera with us when we go back downstairs.”

Hoseok points at him with the GoPro, smiling. “Now that sounds like something I can get on board with.”

You turn your back to him as he sets up the GoPro, so concentrated you can see the tip of his tongue sticking out between his pursed lips.

With nothing much to do now that you’ve replaced the batteries you needed to replace, you stretch, groaning a little. Dropping your arms back to your sides, you look around again, though you can’t really focus on anything beyond the sudden loud rumbling of your stomach. “Anyone happen to have a snack or something?”

“Got some peanuts in my backpack,” Jungkook replies as he stands up from the floor, camera loose in his hands – so loose, in fact, you’re surprised it doesn’t just fall to the ground then and there.

You chuckle a little, but gladly grab the small packet out of his backpack and take a handful of peanuts, dropping half of it in Jungkook’s hand. “You should eat that when the cameras are rolling. I bet all the comments will be screaming about EVPs.”

Jungkook grins at you, nose scrunching, before he throws the peanuts into his mouth all at once. “Why do you think I brought them?” he jokes as he munches on the nuts, dusting off his hand on his black pants. “We could use some supposed evidence for once.”

“I heard that,” Hoseok says, standing beside Jimin and watching as the cameraman fixes the GoPro at the right angle.

Soft chatter continues on for a few minutes while you all take a little break, sitting around in the library and relaxing for a few moments before you continue on your night. You’re shielded quite well from the cold breeze outside, and you’d honestly rather stay in here for the few hours that are left. But, of course, a job is a job, and when a few more minutes have passed, it’s time to continue onwards. Cameras are turned back on, audio is checked, and then Seokjin counts down to zero once more, silently mouthing ‘action’.

Hoseok is still hoisting his backpack back onto his shoulder as he speaks, “We’ll move on to the bedroom now,” he mutters, and his face is contorting in such a way that you’re excited already.

“What’s so scary about a bedroom?” you inquire, following him as he walks towards the entryway to the bedroom.

He turns for a second. “People feel very strange in there. They even feel actual pressure on their chest sometimes,” he replies, turning his back to you so he can see where he’s walking. “And remember me telling you about that woman in black?” he adds, stopping at the bedroom door. You nod slowly. “Well, people report seeing her stare at them from this very room,” he elaborates, hand hovering over the doorknob for a second, letting himself take a breath before he grips it and turns, opening the door seemingly as slowly as he possibly can.

“Spooky,” you deadpan, waiting behind him, arms crossed.

He enters the room without complaining, or ‘letting’ you go first. You throw a surprised look at the camera, putting up your thumbs as Hoseok steps over the threshold.

“Y/N,” Hoseok calls from inside, making you tear your gaze away from the crew to look back at him. “You coming?”

You almost laugh at the situation – Hoseok, ever the scaredy cat, beckoning you inside the room he evidently finds one of the most terrifying of all. You honestly find it quite tempting to close the door right in his face, leaving him to simmer in his own fear for a few minutes and forcing him to communicate with this woman in black he’s mentioned just about ten times in the run-up to this. You know from experience that it’d be some good footage. But that habit of yours is probably why he doesn’t usually enter rooms _first_ anymore.

“Yeah,” you say instead, nodding and stepping over the threshold, looking around the room as soon as you do.

There’s a bed, you’ll give it that. But it doesn’t quite look like a bedroom you’d want to sleep in. Half the wallpaper is torn off, some loose strips still hanging off the walls, and it smells musty. A layer of dust covers the single cabinet against the wall, the floor messy with filth as well, though you don’t spot any cans of Red Bull this time. There are double doors beside the bed and you narrow your eyes at the small stool that seems to be keeping them closed.

“Yeah, that’s the closet,” Hoseok says. “I think I told you – they found an actual human skeleton in there.”

“Lovely,” you say, pulling a face but composing quickly, looking up at Hoseok with a sly smile. “Wanna take a look inside?”

He doesn’t seem all too happy with the idea, but shrugs, giving you to walk over to the stool and pull it away. Immediately, one of the doors starts to open very slowly and you raise an eyebrow, simply standing back and watching it happen.

Hoseok, however, seems to think a little differently. He gasps from beside you, momentarily torn between stepping closer to inspect the situation and stepping away from it. “Are you getting this?” he whispers to the crew, though it’s pointless, considering Jungkook has already stepped in to steadily film the door.

Halfway through opening, just before you can really take a look inside, it halts in its tracks, so subtly that you swear you see it move another few millimetres before it really stops.

“Ashley?” Hoseok asks timidly, stepping a little closer to the wardrobe. “Ashley, is that you?”

The door moves a little.

“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god,” Hoseok mutters, immediately sliding his backpack off of his shoulder. You opt to stay silent for a moment, just deciding to watch and, most of all, enjoy. “Ashley, please stay here if you can, I’ll get us something that’ll help you talk to us.”

You groan at those last few words, burying your face in your hands. “Please don’t tell me you’re gonna use the spirit box.”

He looks at you over his shoulder, holding up the damned device to show you. “I’m gonna use the spirit box,” he tells you with a smile, a fiery determination in his eyes. He turns again before you can say much else. “Ashley, this is a spirit box,” he announces, holding it up in the air to ensure that ‘Ashley’ sees it, wherever she’s hiding. “It’ll create some white noise that you can manipulate so you can talk to us. Is it okay if I turn this on?”

When the door moves once again, he lets out an uncharacteristic squeak, practically jumping in his spot.

You decide to put off the complaining about the spirit box off for a while, mentally preparing yourself for the incredibly loud noise that you know is coming. “Who’s Ashley, anyway?” you ask him, dusting off the stool you pulled away from the wardrobe, testing it by forcefully pressing your hand down, then sitting down when you sufficiently trust the thing to stay intact.

“She’s one of the four Tiedemann children that died in here,” he mumbles, fumbling with the spirit box in his hand. He plops down on the bed in his distracted state, a cloud of dust escaping into the already musty air. You cough a little when you’re forced to breathe it in. “They think she’s the woman in black.”

Just then, the spirit box turns on and you wince, ears already aching at the fast bursts of white noise that fill the room, occasional music or voices breaking up the streak.

“Ashley, I’m Hoseok, that’s Y/N,” Hoseok begins. “Could you say our names back to us, please?”

White noise. You both wait a few seconds, scanning the room, listening for anything of value. Hoseok is about to open his mouth again, though shuts it immediately when there’s a voice. The most you hear is a few random vowels – an ‘o’, maybe an ‘a’, too – but Hoseok’s gaze snaps up from his camera, staring at you.

“’Hola’?” he repeats, so seriously that you can’t help but laugh a little.

“How multicultural,” you comment with a smile.

Hoseok ignores you. “Ashley, is it you we’re talking to? Could you say your name for us, please?”

Another set of vowels comes out of the spirit box, though Hoseok has to purse his lips now, too, avoiding your gaze as he lets out some giggles. “Spaghetti?” he repeats to clarify, though his voice is high-pitched and he can barely talk through his laughter, at which you chuckle a little.

“I think we’re dealing with a troll ghost here,” you comment, as Hoseok tries to compose himself, wiping the corners of his eyes. “Well, Spaghetti, could you tell us a little bit about yourself? Are you a bolognese, or maybe a carbonara?”

Hoseok holds his hand to his mouth, stifling more laughter. The spirit box doesn’t seem to respond as well to your joke as he does, though, and it just gives you white noise this time. After a few moments, Hoseok takes over from you. “Could you tell us how you died here, Ashley?”

“You don’t ask a ghost that!” you hiss, feigning offence. Crossing your arms, you sit back and click your tongue, shaking your head. “Talk about respect. At least buy her a drink first.”

“Some ghost tea, maybe?” he replies and you nod frantically, pointing at him. “That’s not a thing, now shush,” he says, slapping your hand away from his face with a small smile. “Sorry about that, Ashley. I’ll repeat my question – could you tell us how you died here?”

A few moments of white noise – and then another set of vowels, at which you burst out in laughter at even the thought of a ghost trying to say what you think it was trying to say. “Apple taters?” you repeat, making Hoseok laugh once more. “Can you die from that? Are those poisonous?”

“I think we’ve just got a hungry ghost in our midst,” Hoseok says with a chuckle. “Ashley, could you explain to us what apple taters are so that we might be able to get them for you?”

You wait for a few minutes, but there’s no ‘reply’. There are only the staccato bursts of loud white noise penetrating your ears, making you wonder if you’ll eventually go deaf from doing this over and over and over again. You’re starting to question the decision to not protest the spirit box loudly enough the first time Hoseok pulled it out of his backpack.

“Ashley?” Hoseok cautiously repeats, looking around the room. “Still there?”

Once again, there are no voices that come through the spirit box. Not that you really expected it.

But there’s music this time.

It’s a short burst of melody, three simple chords that you probably shouldn’t be able to recognise. But you and Hoseok both perk up in your seats, looking at each other, eyes wide.

“Was that…”

“Alive,” you fill in with a firm nod, letting out another laugh. “Sarcastic, hungry, and a Directioner,” you say, dramatically shaking your head. “Hoseok,” you begin, grabbing his full attention by leaning forward to put your hand on his arm. He looks at you, eyebrows raised in expectancy, though you wait for a beat before speaking. “I think she’s me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!! Let me know what you thought of this chapter, what you'd like to see next, what you think the crew will face in the upcoming chapters, or just your general thoughts! Hope you have a great day/night wherever you are! :)


	5. 3 AM

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It appears your beliefs aren’t as cut and dry as you thought they were – but all you can do is simply push on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Halloween!!

“I’m cold,” you say, shivers running down your spine as the air cuts right through your coat. “Can we just go back to the library? I’d happily spend the rest of the night there while you hunt for ghosts.”

Hoseok snickers and shakes his head. “I’m sure the basement will be much better.”

You just scowl, rubbing your upper arms in an attempt to warm yourself, the crew thundering down the stairs and breaking the somewhat peaceful silence that shrouds this entire castle. Jungkook is right up front, being the one that proposed walking down the stairs _backwards_ just so he could get a good shot of the two of you on your way down. And walk backwards he did, despite six voices of protest pleading him not to risk breaking his neck.

“So, this basement…” you start as you reach the first floor and turn to the final set of stairs you haven’t walked down yet, leading into pitch black darkness and what you can already feel are even colder temperatures.

“Uh-huh, that’s a basement,” Hoseok teases. “Servants’ quarters,” he elaborates curtly before stepping aside and looking at you expectantly, even going as far as to cock his head in the direction of the basement.

You pause, smiling at him in amusement. “You want me to go first?”

“Yeah, I’m a real gentleman,” he simply replies with a small smirk, crossing his arms.

You hold back a snort, only nodding a few times, narrowing your eyes at him. “Clearly. Letting me die first and everything.”

“Definitely. And totally _not_ because you can’t lock me in there like last time if you go in there first.”

With a short laugh, you shrug and nod. “That’s fair,” you admit, turning towards the stairs and putting your foot on the first step. It doesn’t creak all that much, but you swear it slightly sags underneath your weight. You don’t know if you should be offended at the notion that you’re too heavy for a set of goddamn stairs, or if you should be scared for everyone’s lives – or legs, for that matter.

“Alrighty,” you mutter, setting your other foot on the stairs and then deciding to just accept the risk and walk like you normally do. “So, recap – rich enough for a parlour, a ballroom, a separate breakfast room, a library, and countless bedrooms,” you say in between your steps, glancing upwards at Hoseok as he, too, sets foot on the stairs and he, too, seems a little wary of its structural integrity. “Let’s see how much they cared about the well-being of their servants, eh?”

Hoseok’s face contorts a little more, though you read a little more empathy than fear this time. “I can already tell you that it’s not that much,” he says with a shake of his head, just as you reach the bottom of the stairs. You don’t even look around yet, turning your back to the space and waiting for the others to come down instead. “They didn’t exactly treat them like slaves, but let’s just say unions or worker protections weren’t really a thing back then and, well…” he trails off and doesn’t finish his sentence, though it doesn’t take much for you to figure out what he means.

“That bad, huh?” You point your flashlight at Hoseok’s feet so he has a little more light to work with. “I mean, they didn’t become friends or anything? I feel like you see that a lot in movies and stuff.”

Hoseok’s feet hit the concrete floor and he jumps forward a little bit, coming to stand beside you as the rest of the crew catches up. “From what I read, they did form some kind of a relationship, if you could even call it that. But being a servant wasn’t as nice and cheerful as they make it seem,” he elaborates, “Plus, they were still ‘below’ the Tiedemanns in almost every way possible and they had no way of getting out of that. Not exactly a fun life you’re leading.”

You scowl a little, turning to let your flashlight illuminate the room, though you can’t really see that much until Taehyung comes in and saves the day – ahem, _night_ – with the larger lights he’s carrying.

The basement seems to be stuffed to the brim with old furniture, wooden planks that haven’t been used for the planned renovations, or random items, like a stray dress that looks to be from the nineteenth century.

“They say that, since the most tortured souls spent their lives here, these quarters should be the most active,” Hoseok mutters from beside you, taking in the room with wide eyes.

“You’re hoping for that?”

He pauses a moment, then looks at you and shakes his head, looking a little dejected. Or sad, perhaps. “Not really,” he replies softly, shrugging ever so slightly. “I mean, don’t get me wrong,” he adds right away, stepping a little further into the room, though he holds your gaze as he continues, “I’d love to prove that ghosts are real. But I just think that tortured souls like that – souls in general, really – deserve to rest.”

You nod slowly, silence falling over the basement as you ponder over his statement. “So you believe there’s a ghost heaven?”

“Not for ghosts, specifically,” Hoseok replies, finding a wall and leaning his shoulder against it. He looks down at his camera, adjusts it a little, then looks around the basement. “Just the same as our heaven, if there is one. Or maybe just… nothing.” He looks back at you, watches almost expectantly as you nod once more, not really saying much. “You don’t think so?” You notice Jungkook sidestep into your peripheral vision, camera pointed at your face as an expectant silence falls.

You shrug, letting your gaze travel around the room. Dark and musty, cold. If ghosts existed and you could become one, you could think of a few other places you’d like to spend the rest of time in. “You already know what I think,” you tell him with a small smile, though you humour him, “If you’re dead, you’re dead. There’s no in-between.”

He smiles a little, even letting out a soft chuckle as he pushes himself off the concrete wall. “That’s the show, right?” he says with a smile, giving you a high five as he approaches you.

“That’s the show!” you repeat in confirmation, glad for the small attempt at lightening the mood.

Hoseok is wearing a small smile as he turns to the room you’re supposed to be moving towards. “Right, so we’ll start with the common room, then,” he decides. “Kind of a break room slash living room for servants, as the name suggests. They spent a lot of time in there, maybe more than they did in their own bedrooms.”

“Well, at least they had each other to complain about their job to, right?” you try with a sigh, trailing behind Hoseok, adjusting the GoPro in your harness just a little so it’s at a better angle.

Hoseok chuckles a little. “Yeah, at least they had that,” he admits with a nod, continuing on his way and stopping right in the middle of what apparently used to be the common room, relatively secluded from the upstairs area. There are a few weathered couches here and there, some old and rickety coffee tables to accompany them. It looks like a break room, more than the upstairs bedroom did a bedroom. Old and dusty and not necessarily welcoming, but a break room nonetheless.

You open your mouth to speak, but you swallow your words when your flashlight stutters a little. You quickly shake it to try to get it back to normal, but it keeps flickering, even when you hit it. Hoseok has noticed your struggle and steps a little closer, brows furrowed.

And then, your flashlight completely turns off.

“Seokjin, you replaced the batteries, right?” you ask cautiously, looking up at him.

The man in question nods slowly, frowning a little. “I think so. You want to put in new ones, just to be sure?”

You hum and shake your head, shaking the flashlight again and hitting it once more. “No, just checking,” you reply absently, busy with trying to get the light to work again. “It might just be broken, then.”

“Or it’s something else,” Hoseok says slowly, moving his weight from one foot to another and looking around the room. “Is there anyone here with us?” he asks loudly and clearly, though he’s standing so close to you that the volume makes you wince a little. “Could you turn the flashlight back on for us, please?”

You roll your eyes, continuing to shake and hit the flashlight. “It’s not a ghost, Hobi. Just a cheap and unreliable flashlight.” You hit the object again at your last word and, lo and behold, it jumps back to life, giving off light like it never turned off in the first place. “See? It’s working again.”

“I did ask the spirit to turn it back on,” Hoseok defends, letting his own flashlight illuminate his surroundings.

“And of course it listened,” you return sarcastically, turning to once more inspect the room. “Ghost, was that you?” you ask. “I really don’t appreciate you messing with my light like that, but I’ll give you a pass, since we’re here to gather proof of your existence, I guess,” you lightly chide, a small smile on your face. “I think my friend Hoseok here would love it if you did that again, actually,” you add, pointing at a now wide-eyed Hoseok. “And even if you don’t succeed today, you can just come along with us back to our hotel, it’s only a few blocks away. Much nicer than thi-”

“Y/N! You don’t just invite spirits to ‘tag along’!” Hoseok hisses, lightly hitting your shoulder. “Sorry about that, spirits,” he says with an awkward chuckle. “Please don’t come with us, though.”

You chuckle a little, shaking your head – but that chuckle quickly dies down when, in the corner of your eye, you see a flash of white. A figure, standing in the middle of a doorway and staring at _you_.

Before you can really look at it to make sure, though, you blink, you turn your head – and it’s gone.

Frowning, you blink a few more times. Hoseok makes a comment in the background, but you don’t really catch it, walking closer to the entryway instead. Even upon closer inspection, the supposed figure doesn’t return, nor do you see it anywhere in the dark room the doorway leads you into.

“What’s wrong?” Hoseok asks from behind you, excitement seeping through his voice.

You turn to look over your shoulder. “Nothing, I think,” you reply, looking back into the room. Your flashlight catches the cabinet in the middle of the room and the light bounces back from the shiny surface. _It was probably that,_ you tell yourself. _Nothing more._

“I thought I saw something for a second, but it was just a reflection of my flashlight,” you tell Hoseok, turning around to walk back to him and subsequently bumping into his chest.

He takes a single step back, looking on as you put your GoPro back into the right position. “What do you think you saw?”

You look up, narrowing your eyes at him, almost reluctant to admit to the illusion. “It was nothing, Hoseok,” you reassure him, at which he just crosses his arms. “I thought I saw someone standing in this doorway, but it was too fast to even tell.”

“So you’ll just dismiss it as nothing?” he questions, a little exasperated.

Sending him a smile, you shrug and step around him to move back to the centre of the common room. “Pretty much. You can edit it all you like in post, but I’m not going to start freaking out about a ghost right now, because I honestly don’t believe I saw one.” _Do I?_

“You are impossible,” Hoseok says through a sigh, trailing behind you. You swear you can hear a little tremble in his voice, though it could also just have been your imagination. “Let’s just move on to the last part before I run away screaming.”

“Because of me or just because you’re terrified as hell?”

He pauses for a moment. “Bit of both.”

Chuckling, you pat his shoulder. “Sounds about right.” With a breath, you clap your hands together, scanning your surroundings. There are no figures you spot this time and you feel yourself being a little relieved. “So, what’s the last part got in store for us, huh?”

“The workshop,” Hoseok replies lowly, wagging his finger in the direction of the supposed workshop. His tone is suddenly so serious that you frown a little, planting your face next to his finger and following the line of vision. There’s just an old door you see, nothing that looks as terrifying as he makes it sound.

“And?” you ask after a beat of silence.

Hoseok drops his hand back to his side and takes a breath, rubbing his eyes with the heels of his hands. “I already hate this so much.”

He’s often reluctant, but almost never _this_ much – and there’s only one thing that could explain his behaviour. You gasp dramatically, looking up at him. “Is it a demon or something?”

“You sound way too enthusiastic for this,” he simply replies, though that doesn’t deter you from walking straight towards the doorway. “Y/N, wait, don’t you –“ Before he finishes his sentence, you hear his dejected sigh, followed by his footsteps right behind you. “Never mind, of course you don’t want to hear about the shit that happens in here, because you’re a reckless sceptic.”

Spinning around to face him, you turn and start to walk backwards. “A good point you make there, but do tell,” you return with a smile, disheveling his hair, a gesture at which he only scowls a little. “What’s to be found in this creepy workshop?”

“You know, one of these days, I’m just going to leave you hanging and do a voiceover for the entire episode,” he returns, one eyebrow raised.

You put a hand to your chest, shaking your head. “But how can you expect me to make my amazing and highly content-specific quips, then?”

“I’m sure you’ll figure something out,” he replies with a smile, though that quickly fades from his face when you arrive at the entryway of the workshop. “Right,” he mutters through a sigh. “I’ve been dreading this shit since I stepped over that threshold, dammit,” he whispers, though you figure the words are aimed at himself.

“I’m surprised you haven’t mentioned it more, then,” you comment, grinning, and you spin around to face the doorway, opening the door a little. It’s dark and you can’t really see that far inside, but it looks as decayed as the rest of the building, safe for the workbenches lining the walls, a single axe in the corner, and a few other small tools littered around the room. “So are you gonna tell me what’s up with this room or what?”

He hums, though it’s abnormally high-pitched. You turn to look over your shoulder to check on him, just to be faced with wide, terrified eyes, looking past you to scan the workshop. You wait for a few seconds, which seems to be enough – he blinks a few times, clears his throat, and jumps out of his frozen state to speak, “Right, so this workshop was also for the servants, just to fix everything that needed to be fixed. Clothes, furniture, that kind of thing.“

“Did they also fix lives, or…?”

He laughs a little, shaking his head. “That would be really great,” he says with a smile. “But unfortunately not, no. Just material stuff.” You let out a small sigh, shaking your head in exaggerated disappointment as Hoseok continues, “Today, people have seen tools knocked off the workbenches, and someone even saw the axe floating for a hot minute.”

You narrow your eyes, looking between Hoseok and the axe in the corner. “How far above the ground?”

Hoseok shrugs. “It didn’t say,” he replies, tilting your head and raising an eyebrow. “Would you believe it if I could give a concrete answer, though?”

Chuckling, you nod. “Right, good point,” you admit. “Do continue.”

“People also report getting scratched in here, especially if they challenge any spirits that might happen to be in here,” he replies. You’re awfully aware of how he’s still standing behind you as he looks into the room, as if he’s using you as a human shield just in case something does happen to attack. “The only thing is –“ A shuddering sigh escapes his lips, one that makes you turn to him once more.

“The thing is?” you very subtly encourage, tilting your head in curiosity, though you have a feeling you already know the answer.

Hoseok’s eyes flutter open, slowly. “The thing is that no one really… died in here, at least not specifically in the workshop. And it seems the spirits in here are very adamant about staying in the rooms they’ve died in.”

You nod slowly. “So?”

“So, people have speculated…” Hoseok sighs once more, shaking his head and looking up at the ceiling. “Some people think it might be a demon.”

“Oh, okay.”

With a sigh, his shoulders slump. “I shouldn’t even be disappointed,” he mutters at your reaction.

You return a sweet smile. “No, you shouldn’t,” you say with a light pat on his shoulder. “Let’s go inside, shall we?”

As you start to move towards the entryway, you notice Hoseok is staying rooted in his spot, looking a little too scared for his own good.

“What’s wrong?” you ask him, frowning. “You’ve done demons before, it’s no big deal.”

He jumps back to life, taking a single step towards you, a single step closer to _the demon hole_. “First of all, demons are always a big deal,” he starts, holding up one finger before he adds one more. “And secondly, I don’t want to go in there because it’s three fucking AM and I couldn’t get any holy water because all _three_ churches I went to today were closed.”

With a light chuckle, you turn and step into the workshop. “Why are you always so much more scared at three?”

“I’ve told you like a million times,” he replies, finally following you into the room. “Three AM’s the prime hour demons to do their thing. Supposedly to mock the holy trinity or something like that.”

“And that’s supposed to be scary, why?”

He raises an eyebrow at you. He knows damn well you’re playing innocent, and that you’ve asked this question a thousand different ways a thousand different times. But he still answers. “Because it’s like entering a bullfighting arena just when they’ve released a particularly angry bull, without anything to protect you.”

You send him a grin. “So all we need is a red tablecloth and we can get to the fun stuff, eh?”

Hoseok lets out a sigh, though you can see him smiling, even in this darkness. “How have you not even been scratched yet?”

You grin up at him. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep trying until I do,” you reassure him. “Shall I do the lockdown first?”

He looks incredibly glad to get to leave the room, even though he’ll only have to get back inside later. “Be my guest,” he says, already taking a step back towards the entryway. “I won’t give you the spirit box, since I know you won’t use it,” he adds pointedly, raising an eyebrow as if he’s silently telling you to still take the thing from you.

Letting _that_ opportunity pass you by, you nod and wave. “Sounds good to me. Bye, Hobi! Try not to get attacked out there, either, yeah?”

He just returns a wave, spinning around and rushing out of the room. Jimin hands you a small camera, one he’s already turned on and put on the right setting to help the process along. “Good luck,” he tells you with a smile and you return a ‘thanks’ along with a chuckle before everyone exits and leaves you alone in this empty room for ten minutes.

You could just take a nap in here, considering your surroundings are doused in darkness and complete silence, so much so that you can almost hear your blood rushing through your veins. But, of course, you have a job to do.

“Hey there, demon,” you start, looking around the room. It’s small, something you somehow haven’t really noticed before. You put your flashlight on the workbench behind you, knowing you won’t see much with it, anyway. After clearing the workbench’s surface from stray tools and a layer of dust as best as you can, you plop down on it. “It’s me, ya girl,” you add. “Sitting on your workbench, just messing up all the tools you so… _carefully_ arranged here,” you say, letting the camera Jimin handed to you film the room from wall to wall. “How do you like that, huh?”

Except for the hushed voices of the crew outside, there’s nothing in particular that you hear, nothing that Hoseok could interpret as being a demon, nor a spirit. Though he’ll probably find something to be scared about after the umpteenth time of listening through the footage at twelve AM on a Monday with the volume on eleven.

“So my friend Hoseok is standing outside right now. As you’ve probably noticed, he’s pretty terrified of you, but I’m really, really not, to be honest. So I guess this is your opportunity to prove me wrong.” You pause briefly, continuing to pan around the room. “I’m inviting you to do whatever you feel necessary to do that. Whisper in my ear, scratch me, throw me across the room, whatever you feel like doing. I’ll be silent for ten minutes, so this is the best chance you’ll get.”

Picking your flashlight back up, you turn it in your hand until you find the power button. “Going silent now,” you announce, “Please do try to kill me.” And with that, you switch off your flashlight.

You carefully put it back onto the table, even the small thump of the metal hitting the wood incredibly loud in this ear-deafening silence. Everything is dark around you now and you’ve lost all sense of your surroundings. All you have left is feeling and smell, though the cold, wooden surface of the workbench and the musty smell of the workshop don’t exactly give you much.

As is always the case, seconds seem to stretch themselves out into centuries. According to your GoPro, it’s only been a minute or two, but you’re already incredibly bored. You know you should’ve made your introduction speech longer – rookie mistake, really. You keep forgetting that you –

There’s a loud clattering.

Your heart skips a beat and you reach for your flashlight, blindly patting around in a frantic search. When your fingers finally close around it, you turn it on right away. Jumping off the workbench, you take a few deep breaths to recuperate from your second jump scare of the night, face contorting into a scowl when you taste dust on your tongue. Mind doing its own thing, it briefly flashes back to the figure in white you thought you saw just a few minutes ago, though you force that out of your mind and put on a little smile in the hopes that it’ll get you back to normal. No one wants to see you turn into a second Hoseok.

“You’re really trying, hm, demon?” you tease, approaching the corner you thought you heard the metal clanking, flashlight aiding you in your attempt to look for the _logical_ cause for the disturbance.

There’s some more clattering, just to your left, and your head snaps into the direction of the sound. You’re not as shaken at the breaking of silence this time, though you’re growing pretty determined now to find whatever is behind this – you’ll refuse to admit to Hoseok that this is evidence, dammit.

Upon the third instance of metal clinking against metal, your flashlight finally lands on the source of the sound and you let out a breathy chuckle, almost relieved.

It’s a fat rat scurrying away from the beam of light you shine on it in an attempt to hide from you. “Caught you, buddy,” you say through another chuckle, turning away from the workbench and returning to your temporary seat.

“If that was your rat, I suggest you try to do something yourself,” you suggest to the empty room, wiggling in your spot to make yourself at least a tiny bit more comfortable. “You see, I won’t really believe in your existence otherwise.”

Once again, silence takes over the room. You don’t even hear the voices of the crew outside anymore. A cold draft makes its way into the workshop, likely from underneath the old door that barely covers the entryway and you shiver a little.

“Though I’d love to see how my friend Hoseok reacts to that, so you should do that again a bit later, when he’ll be forced to stew in his fear for ten minutes straight,” you add, legs swinging freely, toes only just grazing the floor. “He’s an easy target, really. Whisper a vowel in his ear and he’s finished. You can have some real good fun with it.”

“I heard that!” you suddenly hear from outside. You stifle a laugh with your hand, glancing at the screen of your night camera to see if you’re still holding it right.

“See? Easy,” you say with a smile. “Might be fun to try to scare him out of the room before his ten minutes are up.”

“Stop trying to get a demon to murder me!”

The smile doesn’t fade from your face as you turn to the doorway to reply, “Can’t talk, sorry, I’m in a very important conversation right now!”

“One minute left, so you better finish that up,” Hoseok returns and you throw an ‘okay’ back at him.

“Right, so I’m gonna go soon. If you still wanna kill me, please do so now, or latch onto me and follow me home to do that later. It’ll just be more efficient to do the former, though, so last chance.”

Even the very last minute ticks by slowly, flashlight steady in your hand. Your legs start swinging again and you focus on filming the room, just trying to lessen your boredom for these last few seconds. There’s no disturbance you can notice, no weird sounds or sights, no weird feelings, nor smells. Just an old, empty, and silent room, with a rat scurrying around somewhere.

“That’s ten minutes!”

You let out a soft ‘woo!’ as you slip off the workbench, calmly making your way back over to the door and carefully turning the doorknob, peeking outside and squinting when you’re faced with bright lights. “I don’t think I want to talk about what happened in there,” you say, letting out a little sigh. “I think these demons have really upped their game.”

“I know you’re just trying to scare me more,” Hoseok returns shakily.

“Is it working?”

“I won’t dignify that question with an answer.”

You laugh. “The sooner you get in there, the sooner it’s over.”

His lips turn downward into a scowl and he shivers a little. “Not helping.” Nevertheless, he reaches for the doorknob and twists, door opening slowly. “If I scream for help, you better get me the fuck out of there.”

You nod, frowning to match his serious tone. “You want me to tie a rope around your waist like last time, just for safety?”

With a curt shake of his head, he looks down at you. “We didn’t bring any rope.”

Pursing your lips to hold back the laughter you feel bubbling in your throat. “Alrighty then, so just give me a shout when you need saving.”

Hoseok nods quickly, takes a breath, and then takes the camera you hold out to him, slipping inside the workshop. You glance at Seokjin. “You’ve got the time, right?”

Seokjin nods, turning the screen of his phone to you to show you the running stopwatch, just as you hear Hoseok settling into the room, accompanied by some weird sounds he always makes when he wants to distract himself from being scared.

“I think I spooked him with my spider story,” you conclude seriously, looking straight into Jungkook’s camera. There are a few soft chuckles that follow and you smile a little. “He has been pretty scared tonight, right? Or is that just me?”

Namjoon hums and nods. “He told me when we were finishing up the script,” he replies, arms crossed. “You know he hates demons. It’s all he’s been able to think about today.”

“I’m surprised he didn’t let it slip earlier,” you wonder aloud, glancing at the door of the workshop when you hear the spirit box turn on, loud enough to sound like it’s right next to you.

“I think he’s trying to be brave this season,” Yoongi replies with a grin.

You chuckle a little. “Not exactly getting that done, is he?”

Everyone falls silent as they listen to the quick bursts of white noise, only overpowered once in a while by Hoseok asking a question. There are no particular squeaks or shouts you hear, though, meaning he’s coming up empty with this attempted conversation.

“How far along is he?” you ask after a while of staring at the tips of your boots, counting the small pebbles littering the floor.

“Almost eight minutes,” Seokjin replies after glancing at the screen of his phone.

Your hum thoughtfully, your hand flying up to your chin, fingers stroking an imaginary beard. “He hasn’t exactly let himself be silent, though, has he?” you muse, one eyebrow raising as you send Seokjin a mischievous grin.

He just narrows his eyes. “What’s your plan?”

You pause for a moment, trying to judge how much support you’ll get for your proposal. “Double his time, let him really feel it,” you finally say, crossing your arms as you await judgement.

Seokjin simply chuckles a little. He shakes his head, though does type something on his phone. “It’s your head when he gets annoyed.”

You nod firmly. “Deal.”

And so you double his time. At ten minutes, he turns off his spirit box, then asks you if it’s time to leave already, though you innocently reply that it’s ‘just a few more minutes’. At twelve minutes and thirty-three seconds, he asks it once more, seemingly counting down the time until he can storm out, though you just tell him to wait a little while longer and to shut the fuck up so the demon can talk. At fifteen, he speaks up again, voice a little smaller, but you smile and tell him he’s almost there.

When you finally tell him it’s time to leave, he lets out a loud breath, rushing out of the workshop. He exits with his hands full – spirit box, flashlight, and the camera he’s somehow balancing along with them. “I’m gonna go ahead and guess that that wasn’t ten minutes,” he says, closing the door with his foot and walking up to you. Jimin quickly takes the camera from him, giving him a little more room to put the spirit box back in his backpack, with the flashlight in his pocket.

You smile sweetly. “We thought it’d be a good idea to let you stay in there a little longer, really let you get the full experience, you know?”

“With a _demon_?” Hoseok asks with a glare, the look in his eyes telling you that he’s either about to literally kill you or run away screaming like he promised.

Either way, you send him a bright smile. “But hey, we’re done!” you say, holding up your hand for a high five. “And not one of us died.”

Hoseok’s annoyance fades a little and he breathes a laugh, shoulders slumping in apparent relief. “No thanks to you,” he mutters, though takes you high five.

“No comment,” you reply with a laugh, spinning on your heels to head back towards the stairs. Hoseok follows you with the crew right behind, footsteps echoing loudly.

“Okay, so I’m sure this is a useless question,” he starts, catching up to you quickly. “But do you think this place is haunted?”

Your eyes briefly flicker towards the doorway you remember seeing a flash of white in, though you once again push that out of your mind and put on a smile. “Nah,” you reply with a shrug. “You?”

“Oh, most definitely,” he replies with a firm nod. “But we’ll never agree on that, will we?” he adds with a small smile.

You nod in admittance, chuckling. “Then I guess it remains…”

Hoseok smiles back at you, eyes twinkling even in the little light there is in here. “Unsolved.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, I hope you liked it! There’s only the epilogue that comes after this :) let me know what you thought of this series and what you might like to see in the epilogue, or if you possibly want to see more from these characters! Have a great day/night wherever you are :)


	6. 4:23 AM

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With yet another investigation in the books, you should feel satisfied. But something in the back of your mind keeps nagging you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> How was everyone’s Halloween? Here’s a small epilogue to conclude this past month’s Halloween series before everyone moves on to Christmas ;)

They say time flies – but waiting here, near the front door in this cold hallway, the seconds seem to tick by much too slowly.

It’s not necessarily that you’re _impatient_ , per se – you just want to get the hell out of here as fast as possible. Alright, okay, you might be a little impatient, but at least you feel like you’re managing to stay calm enough, just staring ahead of you with your arms crossed over one another as you wait for the last few crew members to join.

 Hoseok, however, seems a little less subtle. He’s jittery with unfaltering nerves, shifting his weight from one leg to the other, continuously looking at doorway to the ballroom, where Jimin and Jungkook are packing up the static camera set up there. He’s been rambling for a while now about everything that comes to mind, though you’re pretty sure he’s realised that himself, too.

“This is really your own doing, you know,” you tell him with a small smile, watching him glance at the cameramen for the third time in a few seconds to check how far along they are. “You wanted to put a camera there.”

“Doesn’t mean I don’t want to get the fuck out of here,” he returns with a shaky sigh, checking once more and brightening up when he sees that Jungkook is zipping up their bags. “Yes, there we go,” he mutters, getting ready to move outside. While he keeps watching the crew as they approach you, you subtly walk towards the front door, a plan for a last, positively _devious_ little joke forming in your mind.

Once everyone has caught up, Hoseok rushes over to you, standing right behind you as he waits for you to let everyone out. You turn the doorknob – or, at least, you _pretend_ to – and attempt to push it open, though the door doesn’t budge.

You rattle it a little, pressing your shoulder against the wood, chipped paint latching onto your coat as you pretend to really, _really_ try to open the door. “Uh, Hoseok?” you start gingerly, though you don’t turn around as you try to suppress your smile. Once you’ve managed to do so, you look over your shoulder at him with the most serious look you can manage. “I can’t open it.”

“What?” Hoseok breathes. He looks rattled, eyes as wide as saucers as he looks at the doorknob, then back at you. “What?” he simply repeats, taking a hesitant step forward.

Even though you’d love to keep up the charade, you can’t help but laugh a little, which makes him look up at you with narrowed eyes. Shaking your head at him, you actually turn the doorknob this time and the door swings open with ease. A wall of cold air hits you right in the face, though that doesn’t put a damper on your mood. “You’re really easy to fool, you know that?” you remark as he rushes out the door first.

“And you’re a terrible friend,” he replies, already at the fence that separates the front lawn from the streets, quick to step out onto the pavement and stop at the van to wait for you to catch up. The harsh, yellow street lanterns shine down on him, casting long shadows on his face and making his hair look even darker than it actually is.

“And I’m also the friend that’ll buy you food tomorrow,” you tell him as you reach the fence too, holding it open for the crew to walk through. Seokjin is the last to exit, having locked up the castle’s front door.

Hoseok chuckles and shakes his head. “Then I guess I’ll just have to forgive you, hm?”

You return a small smile, closing the fence and walking up to Hoseok. You take off the equipment you’ve been carrying around all night and put it in the back of the van, helping everyone do the same with theirs while Seokjin quickly jogs down to the house next door to drop the keys in the owners’ mailbox.

Everyone piles into the van at once, Jungkook sliding into the driver’s seat with Seokjin sitting at the passenger’s side, turning on all the heating the van has to offer. The warmth is an incredibly welcome break to you all, though you can still hear some teeth clattering as Jungkook starts the engine.

Hoseok sinks into the seat beside you with a long sigh, eyes fluttering closed as he revels in the heat from the seat warmer. You feel your hands tingling as you pull off your gloves, feeling returning in the tip of your nose and your toes.

“Tired?” you ask Hoseok as Jungkook manoeuvres the van out of its parking spot, a hum of chatter in the background.

He hums a little, slumping in his seat, eyes still closed and head on the brink of falling onto your shoulder. “Yeah,” he mumbles in reply. “But I know I won’t be able to sleep tonight because of all of this, so that’s just great.”

“I’m sure you’ll be fine,” you tell him softly as he finally does rest his head on your shoulder. He hums once more, breathing already slowing down as he settles into the crook of your neck, hair tickling your skin.

Feeling your own eyes starting to droop, too, you lean your head on his, allowing your eyelids to fall closed.

There’s a sudden flash of white and your eyes pop open, head shooting up. You blink, and the vague figure burnt into your irises seems to disappear from sight.

Jimin, sitting across from you, seems to notice your little moment, tilting his head at you. “You okay, there?” he asks, an amused smile tugging at his lips.

You nod slowly. “Yeah,” you softly reply. “Just a little tired from explaining science all night.”

Jimin chuckles, nodding. “Can’t blame you,” he replies, leaning back into his seat. “Get some rest, then. We’ll wake you when we’re at the hotel.”

You nod and lean your head on Hoseok’s again. “Just promise me you won’t draw anything on my face again,” you mutter, getting only laughter in reply as your eyes flutter closed.

Your heart skips a beat when, once more, you see the same white figure on your eyelids as before – the one that’s been in the back of your mind ever since you saw it hover in its doorway. Or, as you should say, ever since you _thought_ you saw it hover in its doorway.

Hands going a little clammy, heart starting to beat a little faster, you force yourself to keep your eyes closed, to ignore the images your mind has conjured up, to think of anything but the flash of white you thought you saw. But it’s harder than you’d like to admit.

You can deal with coincidences. You’re not spooked by things you can explain logically – a pebble falling on a piano key, gravity pulling a book down to the ground, a rat messing with some tools on a workbench. But your mind just doesn’t seem satisfied with the ‘light reflection’ explanation you came up with.

You sigh and shuffle a little closer to Hoseok’s warm, snoozing figure. When you squeeze your eyes closed, the figure seems to fade, at least a little bit, and you try to push any doubts out of your mind, too. You don’t believe in ghosts – you _can’t_ believe in ghosts, if you’re being real with yourself. _It was just a reflection of light,_ you tell yourself. _Nothing more._

You hope you can come up with a better explanation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, I hope you liked it! What did you think of this series, and of this epilogue specifically? Let me know :) I hope you have a great day/night wherever you are!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! Let me know if you liked it, if you want me to continue this, or if you have anything else to say, I’d love to hear from you! Have a great day/night wherever you are :)


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